An Unexpected Journey
by starspangledsprocket
Summary: Sequel to "A Tale of Two Hearts". Set after "The Wedding of River Song", so assume that Jenny travelled with the gang throughout series six and is caught up on everything. The Doctor and Jenny's first adventure alone! :
1. Chapter 1

_**A/N: Hello! Just a quick note to say that, if this is your first visit to one of my stories, you probably won't understand this until you've read "A Tale of Two Hearts", which you'll find on my profile. Otherwise, enjoy! :)**_

It had been approximately five weeks, two days and roughly four hours since the Doctor had dropped Jenny and the Ponds' back off on Earth. Their last adventure had involved a creepy hotel filled with bad dreams and an alien Minotaur and, in some ways, Jenny had known right from the moment of Joe's death that it would be where they parted ways.

The Doctor was strong- much stronger than she would probably ever be- but even he had a limit. Too many people had died for him, not just in general but as a whole, and she didn't blame him for wanting to spare the people he cared about most from suffering, even if it did mean eternal loneliness for him.

So he had dropped them off outside a house he had bought for Amy and Rory, and had handed Jenny the Vortex Manipulator that he had previously confiscated from her after she had accidentally typed in the wrong co-ordinates and ended up in the Tardis bathroom just as he was stepping out of the shower. She had tried to assure him that it had been just as harrowing an experience for her as it had been for him, but he hadn't seemed convinced.

After he left Jenny had wandered the Earth for a while, reluctant to leave even though so many bad memories were held on the rock. She had been invited to stay with Amy and Rory, but she had kindly refused. The only domestic situation she was prepared to settle in would be with Tom and the boys, and they were gone, so she stuck to just keeping in regular contact with them instead. After a few months, however, something seemed to change. Something had happened to time and, having been in Egypt, Jenny quickly travelled back to England to consult with the Ponds'. Even they appeared different- as though they couldn't quite remember each other or their lives together, but even they had realised something was wrong.

A group was formed from the brightest and most brilliant minds in the country, led by the still elusive River Song... Melody Pond... Jenny still didn't quite understand the whole situation. She seemed to have appeared from nowhere (as usual) and, pretty soon, the Doctor had followed, explaining a fixed point in time had been changed- his death had been halted.

Twelve rounds of bullets, fifty three swear words and an obscene amount of running later, however, the Doctor- her glorious, damned father- had managed to rectify the mistake, marrying River in the process and, quite frankly, snogging her in a most inappropriate manner in front of his new parents-in-law and daughter.

He let them think he was dead as time righted itself and the imminent shattering of the entirety of reality was mended. He let Jenny think she was alone. But a small part of her knew he was cleverer than that. Rule one- the Doctor lies. It was almost the same as her rule one- don't listen to a word that anyone says.

Eventually she got a phone call from Rory confirming her suspicions- her father had, once again, managed to cheat his own death- but not before she had managed to mourn him.

That was why, as she sat on a cold, damp bench in the very same park where, months previously, they had found each other again, the familiar sound of intergalactic pistons straining against the handbrakes that he always managed to leave on caused very strange, conflicting feelings to bubble and churn inside her. Anger, for one, and a strange sense of betrayal.

Once the little blue box had fully materialised amidst the fog that hung in the cold air, the Doctor stepped out rather sheepishly.

"You took your time." Jenny didn't even bother to look up, never mind stand, which the Doctor noticed warily as he took a step forwards.

"I've been lying low for a while. You know- sticking in the Tardis," he replied, throwing a thumb out towards his wooden companion as though, by pointing out where she sat, it might make his excuse more believable.

"A phone call would have been nice," Jenny told him neutrally, finally looking up.

"I'm still not a hundred percent on how to use the phone to be perfectly honest," the Doctor muttered, scratching the back of his head in an attempt to find his _I'm sorry _face.

"You made me think you were dead!" Jenny finally lost her temper and spat her words at him, causing him to jump.

"Ah, so the plan worked then?" he asked brightly, quickly recovering from her outburst and clapping his hands together in his childish way.

"Not for as long as you'd probably hoped. But long enough for me to mourn you and attempt to move on... It failed miserably in case you're wondering how it went." She glared at him with hurt, dangerously dark eyes.

"Oh."

The Doctor didn't know what to say. He hadn't thought of effect his "death" would have on people, particularly Jenny. Now he thought about it, he never seemed to consider anyone's feelings but his own. He'd have to try and change that when he next had the chance.

"Why are you here?" Jenny asked him rather bitterly, looking back down at her feet again as traitorous tears threatened to roll down her cheeks and compromise her façade of indifference.

"Why do you think?" he asked before, realising she wasn't going to answer him, he sighed. "I've been wallowing in self pity for a while now, and it's gotten to the point where I can't stand the emptiness and silence in the Tardis. I'm lonely," he murmured truthfully.

"Don't you think that's a bit of a selfish reason to come back?" Jenny asked, eyes narrowing as she looked back up at him.

"I don't think, I know. But there's no harm in trying, is there?" he replied softly, tears prominent in the corners of his eyes as a sudden burst of pent up emotion threatened to force itself from his tired body. "So... fancy a trip?"

Jenny sighed. Of course she would always go when he asked her to, even though she was angry. She _hated _that he knew she would, too. He was able to read her like an open book, yet she felt like she barely knew him. She didn't at all, really, and it frustrated her beyond belief.

"I think we both know the answer to that," she retorted shortly, getting to her feet and ramming her hands in her trouser pockets in the only small act of defiance she had left in her. She would go, but she didn't have to be happy about it. "You know this isn't over though, don't you?"

The Doctor nodded earnestly. "Oh yes. I was actually expecting much more of an ear full if I'm honest. Although, actually, I think this passive-aggressive, silent crossness might possibly be worse..."

Jenny couldn't help but get some pleasure from that fact as she followed the lanky, stick of a man towards the Tardis. As the doors were opened and she stepped inside, however, the Tardis consciousness sent a loving, welcoming pulse of excitement into her mind and she couldn't help but sigh as most of her tenseness melted away.

"Missed you too," she whispered to the box as the Doctor darted past her to the central column and began pushing and pulling levers and buttons in a seemingly random order.

"You going to shut the doors then?" he called over, to engrossed in what he was doing to look up.

Jenny turned and, reluctantly, did as she was told. She still wasn't totally happy with him but, as she turned back to discreetly watch him, she found she couldn't stay mad after seeing a flash of complete emotional turmoil contorting across his face.

_He really has been wallowing in self pity for a while..._ she thought to herself, as she moved forwards to sit in the swivelling chair and braced herself as they set off. _Too long. _

They were silent for a long while as they floated through time and space- the Doctor's eyes fixed pointedly on the monitor and Jenny sat watching his face for more fleeting signs of distress and loneliness. Just as the Doctor hadn't considered her feelings, she hadn't considered how he had coped with leaving his friends and family behind. They really were too alike.

"We could go and get them, if you want? Amy and Rory. They know you aren't dead, so we could go and pick them up if you'd like?" Jenny asked quietly after a very long time.

"No."

She had expected him to jump at the idea, or perhaps even scream at her for suggesting such at thing, but she hadn't expected that. His face remained impassive but his eyes, for once, told her everything. No was his decision, and it was final. But, Jenny being Jenny, she pressed him still further anyway.

"Well how about River then? Alternate realities and Teselecta be damned- she's still your wife..."

Her voice remained intentionally monotonal during the last part of her comment. She wouldn't let her conflicting feelings towards River ruin her father's happiness. If she was honest, she had nothing against River- she was actually pretty awesome- but there was just absolutely no way in the Universe she would call her _mum._

"The fact that she's my wife is exactly why I can't..." The Doctor's voice was cracked as he spoke, but he didn't let it deter him. "Now that it's all over- now I know who she is, not just in general but to me- I don't know how many meetings we have left until she goes to the library."

It was hard for Jenny to stay mad at him when he was like this. He had told her about River's eventual death in the library and the sacrifice she made for him even though he didn't, at the time, know who she was, and it deeply saddened her that it caused him so much pain and guilt. There was still something playing on her deeply advanced mind that bothered her, however.

"So you're just going to make her sit in prison and wait?" she asked, a little more harshly than she had intended.

"She's a Pond- she'll be perfectly good at it!" the Doctor snapped in retaliation before, noticing Jenny's shocked expression, he paused in realisation of his despicable words. "I didn't mean that."

Jenny sighed deeply, wishing they could just go back to their awkward, surly silence, but she knew she had to finish the conversation now she'd started it.

"Do you know, Tom once told me a very wise Earth saying. 'You shouldn't let the fear of losing stop you from playing the game.' I never really understood it- he seemed to greatly underestimate the physical effects of fear on the body. For example, it'd be impossible to play football whilst paralysed with fear..." she trailed off once she realised she was rambling. "The point is, I didn't realise what he meant until this very moment. You can't let your fear of losing River stop you from spending a wonderful life with her."

The Doctor looked up at Jenny, saw determination in her eyes, and quickly found himself breaking down. She had seen and witnessed so much worse in her lifetime than even he had and she still found a way to be strong, to be a rock for others who needed her, and he couldn't even bare to visit the woman he... loved... because he was afraid. She may have thought he was the strong one, but he totally disagreed. He was ashamed, but he just couldn't. He truly was stood on a football pitch in front of thousands of people, paralysed with fear, as Jenny had perfectly put it.

"I... I just can't. Not yet- I need time," he croaked, wiping tears from his eyes.

Jenny sighed once more, then arranged a smile on her face and nodded in understanding. She wouldn't push him any further- it wasn't her place.

"Alright, if we're not having company then I'm taking you out myself. I'm already sick of you being such a grumpy old man," she laughed lightly, beginning to dance around the controls as the Doctor, a small smile forming in the corners of his mouth, stepped back and allowed her to, just once, take control.

"So, where to m'Lord?" she joked, purposefully trying to raise his spirits by pulling a face and bending in a mock curtsey in front of him. "We could always do Klom- Klom's lovely this time of year! Or Space Florida? Although, I'm not allowed in the theme park any more... long story." She looked up as she began darting around the console again, chuckling sheepishly, only to spot a fully formed smile on the Doctor's face.

"We could always try and superglue the Sacred Bowl of Indifference back together on Naphoon- you know, do a good deed and all that. It might make them stop taking shots at you in the future. What d'you reckon?" She finally came to a stop, hand hovering over a large lever.

"You're the boss. I go where you go," the Doctor replied, gesturing for her to do the honours.

"Space Florida it is then! I'll just have to find a disguise for the theme park," Jenny grinned, pulling the lever before, grabbing the Doctor's hand, she pulled him backwards towards the door.

They swung open of their own accord and Jenny, watching the Doctor for his reaction, stopped dead in the doorway when his face dropped. She swivelled on the spot to look outside.

"Oh..."


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER TWO

"This isn't Space Florida..." the Doctor muttered, confused, as they stepped from the Tardis and into a field.

A small, beautifully picturesque village lay ahead of them, a forest just metres behind it. Perhaps the only thing that ruined the picture was, as they watched, dozens of military personnel rushed about, carrying guns and darting between large, green tents that had been erected in the village square, which was actually just a patch of dirt with a small water fountain set into it. Luckily, however, they hadn't seemed to notice the appearance of the little blue box or the two laughably dressed people.

Jenny took out her Vortex Manipulator and quickly scanned the surrounding area as they set off towards the village, intrigued.

"Nope. It's the planet Autonis, year 5052, and that right there is a human settlement," she read from the Manipulator and nodded towards the village.

"Humans! They just manage to get everywhere, don't they?" the Doctor commented, a smile on his lips.

"Something has to be going down though, right?" Jenny asked, looking up at her father with a sudden concerned look spreading across her face. "The Tardis wouldn't just bring us here for no reason, would she?"

"I wouldn't put it past her... But I'm guessing, if something is happening, those soldiers probably have something to do with it," the Doctor nodded towards the scuttling soldiers as they passed the first row of small, Victorian style cottages. "Something tells me they aren't supposed to be there..."

"So, what's the plan?" Jenny asked, grinning. Her sense of adventure was beginning to kick in again. "Kidnap a soldier? Sneak into a military tent? Pose as royalty of a far away land to get information out of them?"

"I think we should ask."

Jenny skidded to a shocked halt and the Doctor, sensing her disbelief, stopped and turned as well.

"What?" he asked, suddenly worried.

"Are you being serious?" Jenny asked, a little downhearted.

"Never consciously," he replied immediately, slightly confused. "Why? I think we _should _go and ask. We're going to get in some form of trouble either way- let's face it, it's us- and asking just seems like the easier option..."

Jenny shook her head slightly as they began to walk again. "You're getting too old for this..."

The Doctor clipped her playfully round the back of the head, both chuckling.

Out of the corner of her eye, however, Jenny noticed something as they passed the next row of cottages. Turning slightly, she saw a large, dark hole in the ground with a set of stone steps leading down into it at the far side of the village. It was roped off, and the soldiers all seemed to be giving it a wide berth. She didn't know what it was, but something about that hole gave Jenny a frightening sense of foreboding and, when she looked down, she realised the hairs on the backs of her arms were standing on end.

"Look at that," she pointed to the hole and the Doctor followed her gaze. "Why d'you reckon its been roped off?"

"I don't know," the Doctor replied, interested.

"I'm going to check it out, if that's alright? Maybe ask around- see if any of the villagers are in the know," Jenny stated as they came to another stop. The Doctor looked suddenly uneasy.

"Are you sure you'll be alright on your own?" he asked sceptically.

"I've been on my own for the best part of four hundred years. I'm sure I can handle twenty minutes more," she smiled awkwardly.

The Doctor sighed, guilt tugging at his hearts once again, before nodding. "Alright. Be careful then."

"Never," Jenny replied, grinning cheekily as she turned on her heel and set off in the direction of the hole.

She glanced over her shoulder as she began weaving her way through the houses. The Doctor was already being led towards one of the bigger tents by a soldier.

"Oi! What do you think you're doing?" an angry voice suddenly yelled close by.

Assuming she'd done something wrong, Jenny threw her hands defensively above her head to show she meant no harm, and span on the spot towards the sound of the voice. A very muscular, bald man was striding towards her. He wore the same military clothing as the other soldiers- black shirt and cargo trousers, black lace-up boots, a black beret and an assortment of medals littering his chest. He also carried a large, very lethal looking gun.

"What're you wearing?" he asked incredulously once he reached her.

"Have my clothes fallen off again?" Jenny asked, sarcasm laced into her tone as she looked down at her clothes. "What's wrong with what I'm wearing?"

"Why aren't you in company uniform?" the soldier asked aggressively, spit flying from his mouth and onto Jenny's cheek.

"Erm... Because I don't have one?" she replied disgustedly, wiping the spit from her face with her sleeve.

A look of recognition seemed to cross the man's face. "Oh! Jesus- you're _early. _We weren't expecting new recruits until next week! But never mind- we could really do with you, if you know what I mean." A grave expression glinted in his eyes, before he snapped out of it. "Right! This way then. We'll have you ready for duty in no time!"

He gripped Jenny's upper arm tightly and began dragging her towards a surprisingly large, official looking building to their left.

"Er... right, yeah..." Jenny stuttered in reply, too intrigued (and a little frightened) to tell the soldier that she wasn't a fellow army recruit. She'd just have to figure a way out of this mess later.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, the Doctor was stood in a large tent filled with important looking men, all squabbling over bits of paper, maps and guns. He waited patiently for the soldier who had guided him here to bring over his Commanding Officer- an older, kind looking man who stood at the other side of the room.<p>

He glanced across to the Doctor as the younger soldier pointed him out, and the Doctor waved cheerfully. Striding across the room, the Officer held out his hand to the Doctor and the men shook civilly.

"Hello sir. I'm Commanding Officer Nicholas James, but please just call me Commander. Johnson tells me you've just arrived- I assume you're from the Assessment Office?" the Commander asked in a surprisingly deep, gravelly voice.

"Erm... Yeah! Assessment Officer- that's me! I am most definitely the Assessment Officer!" the Doctor replied almost to himself, as though he were trying the new identity of for size. "John Smith- Assessment Officer!" he grinned, shaking the slightly startled Commander's hand again.

"Well I have to say, Mr. Smith, you couldn't have come at a better time. We really need reassessing on the whole 'foreign incursion'" the Commander almost pleaded, saying the last two words with the air of a man who had repeated them millions of times before.

"Foreign incursion, you say? Sorry- first day on the job- haven't been brought up to speed. I told my secretary... Jenny... to send me the files but she forgot. Total scatter brain, that girl," the Doctor lied easily, a smirk momentarily fluttering across his face at the mention of Jenny's name in such a context.

"In that case, sir, follow me and we'll debrief you immediately!" the Commander replied with a genuine smile.

He gestured for the Doctor to follow him and both men swiftly left the tent.

* * *

><p>Jenny sat in a dark room facing a screen. Three people sat next to her, all looking of a similar age (though she realised she must actually be hundreds of years older than all three of the young teens put together) to her. Pictures flickered on the screen as a droning, monotonal voice drifted from the back of the room.<p>

_This is like being back at school_, Jenny thought to herself, incredibly bored. _For the seventy eighth time._

"The incursion is based in the underground transport system around five hundred clicks from here. It has blocked our only network to the city, as the dust fields are peaking at 70.0 again, and so over land transportation is impossible." A tall, pale man began pacing in front of the images of starving people, dead soldiers (some younger than the kids in the room), and empty crop fields. "You have been drafted in as part of the youth division. Once you have completed your fitness tests and training, you will be sent to the front line in an attempt to eradicate the threat. Now, this will be unlike anything you have already covered in basic training. The creature we're talking about has a defence mechanism so advanced that you'll be lucky to make it a hundred feet into the underground-"

_Well that's promising, _Jenny thought sarcastically to herself. _They're seriously sending kids off to be slaughtered?_

"-Our top doctors and researchers have come to the conclusion that whatever is down there is able to use mind tricks in order to make you vulnerable, before-"

"What sort of mind tricks?" Jenny asked aloud, no longer able to keep herself quiet.

The man glared at her for a moment before answering, in all seriousness, with: "It shows you your soul, before tearing it away from you."

A short, stunned silence followed this. Jenny didn't fully understand what he had meant- she didn't believe in souls. Well, she didn't believe in little balls of light that floated around in people's chests. Was he, perhaps, referring to something deep down in the very core of their existences that differentiated everyone, then? That made them choose their path in life? Now that was a little easier to believe. But even so, how could that be taken? That's basically all they were.

Oh.

"They become shells, don't they?" Jenny asked quietly, ignoring the fact that she had already spoken out of term more than she ought to have. She'd always been rubbish at keeping quiet- no amount of regenerations could change that. "They become shadows of the people they once were, don't they? Because their essence- whatever it is inside them that makes them, them- that's taken from them, isn't it?"

The man could only nod, shock and fear grasping his vocal chords so he couldn't speak. They weren't supposed to find out what the creatures actually did- it'd make them less likely to want to fight. They weren't supposed to ask questions or speak out of term either- they never did- and she had caught him off guard. He would be in so much trouble if they refused to complete their training now.

"And you're sending children off to try and fight it?" Jenny asked incredulously, totally unaware of the man's inner fears. "Are you a complete bloody moron?"

Every eye in the room was on her, but she didn't care. Anger and disgust flared inside her, making it impossible to hold her tongue.

"I- I think you'd better watch yourself, soldier, and get some respect! You cannot speak to your CO the way you've just spoken to me!" the man replied, regaining his power by raising his voice. "Now, usually I'd have you arrested for treason to the King and cause, but at the moment we need all the soldiers we can get so, instead, you'll be the first submitted to the screening and fitness tests. Now get out of my sight, all of you!" he yelled, pointing at a door to their right.

The other young soldiers got nervously to their feet almost immediately, but Jenny simply shot a piercing look at the man before, realising there was no way out of this thus far, she got begrudgingly to her feet and followed the rest of the kids, all of whom already belonged to Death, towards the door.

* * *

><p>Almost a full hour later, Jenny had been poked, prodded, jabbed and scraped with all manner of appliances in a small medical room. She had been stripped down to a vest and shorts but, as she sat atop a collapsible bed while a nurse wrote some notes on an official looking slip of paper, it wasn't just a physical sense of exposure she felt creeping through the back of her mind.<p>

They hadn't, so far, figured out what she was, what with them only looking for one heart, and the urgency of the examination seemed to have worked in her favour, but she wasn't sure what they'd do to her once they found out she wasn't human. A Time Lord soldier could be used as a very powerful weapon; with them able to regenerate, they could fight for much longer, and Jenny didn't really fancy being used as an evil puppet in somebody's sick mind games... again.

"Right, on your feet soldier!" the nurse snapped suddenly, and Jenny did what she was told. "Everything looks good, but we just need a full body scan. After that you'll move on to first level training."

The nurse got to his feet and began rummaging in drawers around them, leaving Jenny stood, half naked, in the centre of the room. She was busy contemplating how much damage she could do with a spare scalpel laid on a desk to her right, when the nurse turned back towards her with some form of hand-held scanner in his hands.

"Right, stand straight with your arms by your sides. I'm going to sweep this down your body to make sure you're as healthy inside as you are out..."

Jenny felt a nauseating sense of fear tear through her as, reluctantly, she got into position and he moved into his. They were going to find out, she was sure of it, and then there would be no way out. But what could she do? She didn't even know how many regenerations she had left, and she couldn't just go charging out of the place; she wasn't sure where she was and who was on her side. She was also half naked and weaponless, which only made things ten times worse.

She closed her eyes firmly as the machine was swept slowly, bleeping, down her body- starting with her head. All of her concentration was focused on trying not to physically quake with fear.

"Hang on... what's this?"

She sensed the nurse pause, confused, as the machine reached her chest, and she groaned inwardly. This was it.

"Could you turn around please?" the nurse growled with a sudden venom, causing uncertainty to flicker in the pit of Jenny's stomach.

She was surprised by his request, but did as he had asked- turning so her back was facing him. Cold hands gripped at the neck of her vest at the back, causing her eyes to widen and goosebumps to spread across her entire body. Behind her, the nurse gasped aloud as he pulled the material down slightly.

Between the girl's protruding shoulder blades (luckily just above where her hearts would have given her away), a black symbol had been branded into her skin. The nurse recognised it immediately. She had been branded with the mark of a traitor- something the Universal Army (very much like an intergalactic EU in terms of structure, but with completely opposing morals) did to soldiers in their ranks who had been deemed a compromise to the Army's said morals. It was considered the most dishonourable charge in the entire universe, and anyone branded as such was, by law, to be executed immediately for their crimes.

That meant, not only was she a traitor to the entire universe, but she had somehow managed to escape execution and was most probably, therefore, a wanted criminal.

"Well now. This is certainly awkward, isn't it?" Jenny muttered sheepishly, turning to face the shocked, disgusted nurse with a cheeky grin that only the promise of looming danger brought on her lips.


	3. Chapter 3

The soft grating of shoes being dragged across concrete, and the cheerful whistling of a long-lost tune, echoed around the space as Jenny was physically dragged backwards down a corridor lined with cells by two burly soldiers. She was now, thankfully, fully dressed again (minus her hat, which they had refused to return to her), and her hands were cuffed behind her back.

As the soldiers marched- with her being dragged along behind them- she glanced up at the ceiling, still whistling to herself. However calm she might have seemed on the outside, though, terror was beginning to fill every corner of her insides. She couldn't help but keep thinking, _they're going to kill me, or send me off to get eaten, or torture me..._

Every single horror that they could possibly inflict on her passed through her mind all at once, causing her to panic further. It was becoming increasingly difficult to keep her mask of calmness in place whilst every probable method of being slaughtered rushed through her head.

They came to a stop outside an iron barred cell at the end of the corridor. It looked identical to all the others- bare, claustrophobically small and very dank.

"I'm guessing this is me then?" she managed in a satisfactory sarcastic tone before, being ignored, she was literally thrown inside with the door slamming shut behind her.

She fell heavily to the floor- her hands, which were still tied behind her back, unable to break her fall- and an involuntary gasp of pain escaped her lips as the wind was knocked out of her. The soldiers disappeared without saying a word and, within mere seconds, Jenny was left totally alone.

"Well done Jenny- great job. I'm sure they aren't going to kill you soon," she muttered sarcastically, trying to pull herself into a sitting position without the help of her arms. After the few moments that it took her to complete that task, she looked around.

The walls appeared to be made of a tough, old stone that offered nothing but a very cold draft, and the small cracks in the ceiling were dripping water onto her head. The cell itself was completely empty apart from Jenny sat, now cross-legged, in the middle of it. She suddenly felt very alone.

Then, in the distance, she heard the sound of voices getting steadily louder and louder. Somebody appeared to be coming up the corridor outside her cell and, from the sound of said voices, they appeared livid.

Jenny shuffled into the shadows of the back wall and curled her knees up to her chest, feeling very vulnerable. She was handcuffed, locked away with nothing to defend herself with, and had angry people, seemingly, heading in her direction. In that moment she wished she could just disappear, like she usually did, without any more trouble.

"-Well how in God's name could she have escaped execution?"

"I don't know Sir, I-"

A young soldier and fat, short, middle aged Officer came into view through the bars of Jenny's cell and, after a few moments of squinting into the darkness, they spotted her leaning against the back wall.

"Is that her?" the fat Officer asked incredulously, taking in the girl's small, almost dangerously skinny form whilst snorting slightly. "She looks like a small gust of wind would finish her off!"

"Exactly, Sir. It's usually the scrawny ones that end up doing something stupid."

Jenny had to physically bite her tongue to stop herself from saying something rude; she was already in a lot of trouble and swearing profusely at people wouldn't make it any better.

"Alright, Private, let me in."

The young soldier hesitated for a moment, before letting the fat Officer into Jenny's cell and locking it behind him, before wandering out of sight.

_If only I had a weapon_, Jenny thought to herself as the Officer surveyed her with mildly inquisitive eyes. _Even just a spoon would do in times like these... I could probably trick him into thinking there was food on it, then ram it down his throat. _

"You realise I could just kill you right now, don't you? I could blow your traitorous brains right out of the back of your head," he drawled, almost bored, as a gun was drawn from its holster and pointed in Jenny's direction.

"Of course you _could, _but you won't," Jenny replied, allowing the same bored tone to fill her voice even though the sight of his gun unnerved her still further. "I'm pretty good at reading people, you see, and I'm betting that you're one of those _wonderful_ specimens who likes to make examples of others for their faults."

A sickly sweet smile spread across her face as, reluctantly, the Officer put his gun away again.

"It's curious though," he sniffed, taking a few steps forwards into the centre of the room. "All traitors are catalogued whilst being branded. The only thing is, when we went to find your file, it turns out you don't have one. You don't exist."

"That's a rather rude thing to say, don't you think?"

"Why are you here? Where did you come from? Nobody's ever seen you before around the village- I checked myself. Are you here alone?" the Officer asked, ignoring Jenny's previous comment completely.

Jenny stared at him for a moment, gone out, before responding with, "You're wasting your time with me."

"Oh really? And why might that be?" the Officer replied, scarily calm but with the air of somebody about to explode in anger.

"Because I can't die."

Jenny said this without any real thought, but she realised as soon as it escaped her lips that she had just made the most terrible faux par. She didn't even know for sure if it was true.

"Everybody dies though. Everybody," the Officer replied, uncertainty evident in his voice.

In that moment, Jenny realised she could use this to her advantage. Thinking very quickly, she smirked and growled: "Oh yeah? Why don't you go ahead and shoot me then? See what happens..."

She eyed his gun as it was removed from its holster again, but this time a spark of confidence was quickly warming her insides. She watched carefully as the Officer's arm wavered slightly once he realised she wasn't going to back down and, knowing that she had caught him out, she smirked again.

"You see, now you have to decide whether to call my bluff or not. But, the thing is, I don't think your pride would be able to take it if you were wrong... And, being as gifted at reading people as I am, I know you won't risk shooting me just on the off chance that you _are _wrong."

Jenny stared defiantly into the barrel of the gun, a smile never leaving her face. On the inside she was still very uncertain; she had about as much clue as to what would happen if she was shot as the Officer did. But, if she kept the act up long enough, she might actually just get away with it.

"So- what's it to be then? You could try and shoot me here and get the biggest shock of your life as I rise from the dead and kill you all, or you could cart me out into the middle of town and slaughter me in front of everyone and get the biggest shock of your life as I rise from the dead and kill you all. Your choice," she said, shrugging. "Or you could just let me go I suppose..."

She raised her eyebrows expectantly as, shakily, the Officer lowered his gun. She sighed internally with relief, only to be met with the weapon being forcefully raised again- a look of steely resolve etched into the Officer's face.

"I think that option two is probably the best," he told her, smiling hatefully as her mask dropped to show the terror she was now truly feeling. "Guards? Prep this scum to be taken out and hanged."

His words echoed maliciously around him as he turned back to Jenny, happy in the fact that she appeared truly mortified that her plan hadn't worked.

"I'm calling your bluff, scum bag..."

* * *

><p>The Doctor stepped from a small tent and out into the town square once again- Commander James by his side. He thought back to the grim presentation he had just been subjected to, and then to the even grimmer expression that was surely enveloping his face. He had questions, but first he had to find Jenny and see what she'd found-<p>

"Doctor!"

His head snapped up immediately at the sound of the voice and, swivelling around, he spotted Jenny being dragged across the ground by the same two men who had carted her to her cell. The expression on her face told him she knew exactly what was going on, and she felt as disgruntled as him about the whole situation.

"Ah, Jenny! Right- the Commander here was just about to show me some of the war victims and I was going to ask if you wanted to join us, but I see you're busy... What're you doing, exactly?" he asked as she was rushed past him.

"Well I think they were on about hanging me in a couple of minutes..." Jenny replied calmly as she was carted towards the edge of the forest. There, hanging from a tree branch, was a noose.

"Alright then, I'll see you in... wait... what?" The Doctor recalculated his sentence once her words had actually sunk in. "Why in the name of Rassilon are they going to hang you? What have you done this time?"

"Oh, something about not existing or being a traitor or something like that- I wasn't really listening..." Jenny muttered vaguely as the Doctor raced to catch them up- the Commander in tow. "I'm highly insulted that you automatically came to the conclusion that I'd done something wrong, though."

"Well you have, haven't you?" he whispered furiously in her direction, before turning to face the burly soldiers. "Erm, excuse me? Hi- John Smith, assessment officer."

Jenny shot the Doctor a curious look as as he grinned at the soldiers, but she said nothing and played along as he shook their hands enthusiastically.

"I'm sure there must have been some sort of misunderstanding here. Could you please tell me what she's actually supposed to have done?"

"She's with you?" one of the soldiers growled menacingly as the group came to a stop.

Jenny shot the Doctor a meaningful look as he stepped protectively between her and the soldiers once they released their grip on her. They had decided some time ago not to boast of the fact that Jenny was the Doctor's daughter- there were many in the universe who would try to take advantage of that- and so she never referred to him as "dad" anywhere other than the safety of the Tardis, and he didn't reply to her in any sort of overly affectionate tone either.

"Yes! She's my secretary," the Doctor nodded, keeping up the pretence from earlier for the, momentarily, confused Commander's sake.

Jenny choked slightly as she tried to suppress a snort of laughter from escaping her body but, thankfully, she managed to gracefully turn it into a series of coughs before anyone could notice.

"She's been branded with the UA's seal of treachery," the other, even larger solider, growled.

The Doctor's eyes widened slightly as he glanced at Jenny before, turning back to the soldiers, he burst into laughter. "That's impossible. My company does scans for such things before we'd even consider hiring anybody. I can guarantee that, if she is indeed branded with such a mark, it has either been planted there purposefully to frame her for some reason, or it's a case of mistaken identity."

"You did say you couldn't find my file," Jenny chipped in helpfully. She didn't know what the Doctor really thought about the whole situation, but he was still prepared to help and so she should at least do the same.

"If there is no record then we really don't have the authority to hang her..." the Commander mused.

"But Sir-"

"But Sir nothing. Obviously there has never been an issue with branding traitors before but, with no evidence we aren't, by law, allowed to kill her. It's murder."

"How about we come to some form of compromise then?" Jenny asked hopefully. "I'm pretty smart... for a secretary. If my boss and I promise to help with your alien incursion problem, do you promise to pardon me?"

"How do we know you aren't trying to trick us?" one of the soldiers asked.

"You don't," the Doctor replied truthfully. "You'll just have to trust her word."

There was silence for a few moments between the group whilst the Commander thought their proposition over. He really wasn't certain that they could help with their problem at all, and yet... he couldn't help but automatically trust them all the same. And even if they couldn't help, he still needed Mr. Smith's support in order to get them reassessed if they had any hope of getting more funding.

"Alright, agreed. But expect me to be keeping a close eye on you," he sighed, noting the exuberant expressions on both Mr. Smith's and the girl's faces.

"Splendid!" the Doctor grinned, clapping his hands together happily. "Now then- weren't you about to show us some bodies...?"

"Yeah, and I'm going to be needing my hat back now. I have some important stuff in it," Jenny agreed, folding her arms across her chest and looking up expectantly.

_**Hey :) R&R? **_


	4. Chapter 4

There were simply no words to describe the sight that met Jenny and the Doctor as they stepped into the medical tent behind Commander James. The room was filled with row upon row of deathly still, uniform clad people- seventy five percent of whom appeared to be just children, ageing, at youngest, from around five years old to, at oldest, fifteen or sixteen. The other twenty five percent, where looking mid-to-late twenties, still appeared heartbreakingly vulnerable in their current fragile state of being.

The three conscious people wandered silently through the ocean of military cots, staring around in shock. For once, even the Doctor was at a loss of what to say.

The Commander trudged over to one of the few medical staff on duty and began a calm, whispered conversation with her at the opposite side of the room. The Doctor, still silent, moved over to the nearest mentally incarcerated patient and, pulling out his Sonic Screwdriver, he scanned the length of the young girl's body. Jenny, meanwhile, hadn't moved from her spot by the door and stared, dumbfounded, at the young people around her.

"That can't be right... impossible... makes no sense, why... how can they possibly..."

The Doctor took a deep breath and stopped muttering to himself under his breath. He looked up, only to notice that Jenny hadn't moved.

"Jenny?" He stepped towards her, suddenly worried. "What's wrong?"

"What?" Jenny appeared to snap out of some sort of trance and, wiping tears from her eyes, she quickly shook her head. "No, it's nothing, I just... I don't understand why this is happening- why they're using children to fight a war that they have nothing to do with. No child should have to suffer like this..."

He knew. The Doctor just knew in that moment that she was thinking about her family and, in particular, her children. And the reason why he knew this was because he was thinking the exact same thing. Is this what his children had been subjected to during the Time War? Were the parents of these children sat in their homes, waiting for their babies to come home, not knowing they probably never would?

"It's not even just that though, is it?" Jenny asked quietly, almost as if she had been reading his mind. "This was supposed to be my life, wasn't it? This could have been me if you hadn't stopped the Humans and Hath fighting each other. Or if I hadn't run away from the UA."

"So you are a traitor then?" the Doctor asked softly, unable to keep conflicting emotions from gracing his face. Obviously he was glad she wasn't part of the organised murder that the UA prided itself on, but he hadn't pictured her as a coward either. "How did you escape execution?"

"I didn't."

Jenny glanced over to the Commander, still conversing with the member of staff, in order to avoid her father's gaze. He was so good at reading her, and she didn't want him to see the complete and never-ending agony that was surely glistening in her eyes. She knew she'd have to tell him what happened, but she could still spare him the guilt in thinking, on some level, it was his fault.

"I don't understand." The Doctor's brow furrowed as he tried to crack her cryptic answer.

Jenny sighed before she answered him, taking a few moments to think of how she was going to convey what she wanted to say in words he would understand. "The only reason why I joined the UA in the first place was because Tom and the boys had just been killed, and I wanted the chance to shoot as many things as possible. It was the only constructive way of releasing my anger and pain that I could think of at the time. It was alright for a while- I could focus on the job at hand and detach myself from the horrible truths of what we were actually doing. But then, about six months after I'd joined up, something popped the little bubble that I'd wrapped myself in and I realised what terrible things I'd been doing."

"What was it?" the Doctor croaked, bile quickly rising in his throat as he thought of what she must have been through- the amount of times she could have been mortally wounded, or wounded someone else.

"My Commanding Officer shot an innocent child," she replied simply, finally raising her gaze to look at him. "And, in that single moment, I realised what I was doing. I looked around me and, instead of seeing everyone as enemies, I just saw children. I thought about their families- thought of the pain I felt over my family's death- and realised I never wanted anyone to ever have to feel that. So I took a stand."

There was silence between them for a few moments. The Doctor wasn't sure whether he really wanted to know the rest- he didn't know whether he could take it- but a part of him had to understand the full extent of what she'd done.

"I waited for night to fall and everyone to retreat back to their bases- I wanted to make sure everyone saw what I planned to do and not mistake it for an act by the opposition in the chaos of battle. We were taken into a room to discuss strategies for the next day of fighting and, in broad sight of every member of the squad and all the senior officers, I stood up and shot the CO directly in the face."

She looked at her feet then, swallowing a lump of emotion that appeared to have lodged itself in her throat. The Doctor had simply nothing to say, and so waited for her to compose herself and continue.

"Obviously they weren't going to let me get away with it. In all honesty, I didn't want to. It felt like, as soon as I realised how many people I'd killed or failed to save out of spite and anger, I started drowning in guilt. I couldn't take it- I _wanted_ them to execute me. I wanted them to end it... I just forgot that when they did, I'd regenerate. I don't think I've ever seen anybody as shocked as that executioner was," she chuckled sadly to herself, subconsciously brushing her fingers across her neck as though remembering exactly where the blade had sliced her flesh. "The funny thing is though, after I regenerated, the symbol was still branded into my skin. They must use some kind of special ink or something- extremely permanent- because every regeneration since has had it. It's like my body doesn't want me to forget, won't let me move on properly because, as long as I can feel it there, I can never forget. I don't think I'd be able to anyway though, to be honest."

"How did you actually escape then?" the Doctor murmured, bringing the conversation in a full arc back to his original question.

"Well obviously they'd never experienced someone who could survive an execution, but they weren't allowed to do it again because I'd already received my sentence. I think they were going to just keep me in a cell forever and wait to see if I'd eventually die but, being the selfish piece of work that I am, I didn't want that. I wanted to go free and so, one night, I knocked out a guard who'd brought the daily ration of food into my cell, and escaped," she finished, shrugging slightly. "And that's about it. Now you know."

She couldn't stop the silent tears that had begun rolling down her face at some point during her speech, nor did she try to. The Doctor pulled her into a hug and they clutched each other tightly, whilst he gently shushed her and stroked her hair comfortingly.

"Is everything alright here?" a voice chirped from behind them and, pulling out of each other's embrace, the Doctor and Jenny turned towards the source.

The medical doctor who had been talking to the Commander (who was now busy reading through a report at the other side of the tent) stood in front of them. She appeared a nice enough person, given the depressing circumstances, but tiredness seemed to cling about her body, proved mainly by the sagging in her upper back, the grey pallor of her skin and the dark bags that hung under her dark, bloodshot eyes. Even her brunette hair appeared lank and dead as it drooped around her shoulders.

"Yeah, just... wasn't expecting this," Jenny replied, forcing a smile to decorate her face and wiping away all traces of pain with the backs of her hands.

"It can be distressing," the woman agreed, before sticking her hand out for the Doctor and then Jenny to shake. "I'm Lucy Brown- operational head of medical staff. The Commander tells me that you're here on official business?"

"Yep. John Smith, assessment officer," the Doctor replied, grinning. He really seemed to be enjoying his new role. "This is my secretary, Jenny."

"Hello," Jenny nodded civilly.

"Well, any questions you might have, I'm happy to try and answer them for you," Lucy told them, smiling at one then the other.

"Alright then!" the Doctor clapped his hands together rather excitedly. "I have tonnes of questions. First one- I scanned these people and they're all fully conscious. Their brains appear to be functioning correctly, and yet they're totally paralysed- empty if you will. My question is this- how is that possible?"

"We aren't totally sure," Lucy confessed, looking down into the face of the nearest patient- a young boy of no older than five or six years old. "The creature appears to be able to tap into not only your mind, but your personality- what makes you who you are- and just take that away. These people are still very much alive, but they're like zombies."

"It shows you your soul, before tearing it away from you..." Jenny repeated what she had heard earlier that day, its meaning suddenly becoming more clear.

"Ok, which leads on to my second question. I can understand you trying to fight back against whatever it is that's doing this, and I can even understand you sending soldiers down to kill it, but what I can't understand is why those soldiers are innocent children." The Doctor spat this with so much venom in his tone that even Jenny cowered slightly. He wasn't good when he was emotional.

"Well that's exactly why they use children- their innocence. The creature uses all the guilt, fear and corruption in a person to project hallucinogenic images into their mind, making them perceptible to attack. They use children because they haven't yet had the weight of the world placed on their shoulders- they don't understand what true guilt or fear is."

"Well obviously they do, or they wouldn't be left as vegetables like the rest of the soldiers!" Jenny cried incredulously.

"Alright, let me just picture this. So you're saying that you're sending people, mainly children, down into the dark where they face their worst fears or the guilt from their pasts and, as they can take no more and finally give into said fear or guilt, they become vulnerable and therefore perceptible to having their personality taken by whatever it is that's down there?" the Doctor asked, trying to get everything straight in his head.

"Basically, yes."

"You know all this and you still continue to send them down there like lambs to the slaughter, even though they have no chance of even making it to the actual creature itself?"

"Oh, some of them do make it to the creature's lair. We just never see them again if they do," Lucy replied grimly. She wore the same expression as the Doctor- as though she was losing more and more faith in the system by the second. "Look, I'm just a doctor. I look after them after they've been ordered to their deaths by the gorillas upstairs. I am most definitely not the one who sends them down there, nor would I ever if I were in charge. Believe me, this job certainly isn't what I expected it to be, but I signed a contract. I couldn't leave even if I wanted to."

"You don't want to?" Jenny asked suspiciously.

"I couldn't just leave them to rot. I have to try and find a way to save them, otherwise what sort of healer am I?" she replied sorrowfully.

The Doctor sighed, giving Lucy an approving nod. "I like you more and more every second, Lucy."

"Er, thanks," she replied, grinning slightly as the Doctor turned on the spot.

"So what's the plan?" Jenny asked as he came to a stop in front of her. "And please, for the love of God, don't tell me we're going to go and ask again."

"Oh, definitely not. We're-"

The Doctor was cut off by an ear-shattering eruption of noise and vibration as the very earth underneath their feet shook, catapulting them and the hundreds of zombie-like soldiers to the floor. Almost as soon as it had begun, however, the shaking stopped and the noise ceased, leaving everything deathly still and quiet.

"Everyone alright?" The Doctor's panicked voice split the eerie silence like a knife and, groaning, he pulled himself out from under the body of a young teen.

Luckily, the tent appeared to have stayed upright, but military cots and vegetable like victims lay strewn on the floor.

"What the hell was that?" came the Commander's voice from behind him and, turning, he spotted the other three members of his party pulling themselves from under the mess of canvas, metal and skin.

Jenny's face was a sickly green-grey colour, as though the sight before her had caused her to remember a particularly gruesome experience from her past. A fountain of blood cascaded down the side of her face from where her head had met the edge of a medal pinned to somebody's chest, and began dripping from her chin onto her shirt and jacket.

"Seriously, everyone ok? Jenny- is your head alright?" the Doctor asked again as he, the Commander and Jenny made their way towards the exit, leaving Lucy to try and mop up the situation with the bodies.

"I'm fine," Jenny replied, wiping blood out of her right eye and attempting to clog the flow with her jacket sleeve.

As they finally made it to the edge of the tent and wrenched the flaps open to peer outside, the sight that met their eyes wasn't short of pandemonium. The hole at the edge of the village appeared to have collapsed in on itself, creating a large crater in the middle of the ground, but with no feasible way down to the underground. Soldiers ran around like headless chickens, panicking and trying desperately to try and restore order whilst pulling colleagues from the wreckage of fallen buildings and shrapnel.

"Sir! Sir- the monster has destroyed the entrance to the underground. There's no way for us to get down now!" a young man yelled as he raced over to fill his Commanding Officer in on what had happened.

"Yes, I can see that, thank you Matthews," the Commander replied, following the young soldier towards the wreckage.

Jenny turned to the Doctor as they took a step away from the medical tent. "So then, what was the plan again?"

"Firstly we're going to find another way down to the underground and figure out what the creature actually is. After that we're going to give it a chance to leave in peace and never come back. That failing, we'll have to move it by force. Nobody else will suffer like the people we've just seen- I'm drawing the line..."

_**Bit of a filler chapter, but I needed to tie up a couple of loose ends quickly before I forgot about them :) R&R? **_


	5. Chapter 5

"Alright, so so far we have no visible way of getting to the creature so I can't figure out what it is, and we have no way to protect ourselves even if, on the off chance, the planet decides to miraculously open up for us so we _can_ get a look at the creature," the Doctor muttered, almost to himself, as he paced up and down an isle between the military cots back in the medical tent that he and Jenny appeared to have made their base since the earthquake-that-wasn't-actually-an-earthquake.

"Could you stop pointlessly wandering backwards and forwards please? You're making me feel ill." Jenny sighed frustratedly from her perch on the edge of one of the few empty cots. She flinched every couple of seconds and clutched at her newly reunited hat as Lucy sat beside her, trying to sew the deep gash in her forehead back together.

"I can't help it. I think better when I'm moving!" the Doctor whined in response, still dancing up and down the isle in front of them.

"Come on- it can't be that difficult for us to think of something!" Jenny exclaimed, slightly worried about their lack of inspiration.

"Well I'd use the Tardis to transport us down but, with the nature of the creature's mind fiddling abilities, I'm not really happy to. Just think what a creature like that could do with all the power and knowledge the Tardis has-"

"-Sorry, but what's a Tardis?" Lucy butted in, confused.

"Company vehicle," Jenny replied evasively as the finishing touches were made to her stitches. "So the Tardis is out... All we really need is something to cloak us from the beast's wandering mind-reading thingy- something that would perhaps turn us invisible- and then a way down..."

She came to a stop, and both she and the Doctor raised their heads in a moment of dual comprehension. A mirrored grin spread across their faces as Lucy looked on- still utterly bewildered.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" the Doctor asked, unable to stop himself from bouncing up and down like an excited little boy.

"Perception filter," Jenny nodded enthusiastically. A sparkle of mischief and adventure was beginning to cloud her eyes.

The Doctor quickly began rummaging around in his many pockets before, pulling out a few totally unrelated objects including a rubber band ball and a half eaten bag of very stale jelly babies, he finally found what he was looking for. He produced from his pocket two Tardis keys on separate lengths of string, before holding them up to show Jenny and Lucy.

"These babies should do the trick!"

"You put perception filters on keys?" Jenny asked, impressed, as she caught one the Doctor threw at her.

"Course I did! Had a bit of bother with an old acquaintance a few years back and needed them to have a poke around," her father replied, still grinning like an utter fool.

"Hang on, I'm sorry, but _perception filter_? _Tardis_? You don't really expect me to believe you're assessment officers, do you? Because you're the strangest ones I've ever heard if you are," Lucy commented, looking up as Jenny got to her feet in order to join the Doctor.

"No, no we're not assessment officers," Jenny agreed seriously, before grinning at her father. "We're much, much cooler than that."

And with that, before any more questions could be asked, Jenny followed the Doctor to the exit, leaving Lucy to ponder over the cryptic answer she had just been given.

* * *

><p>Once out in the village square again, the Doctor paced purposefully towards the, now, small party of soldiers attempting to shift the rubble away from the underground entrance. The Commander stood nearby, overseeing their progress.<p>

Jenny, however, took more time in following her father through the small village square. She was too busy glancing at the damage done to the houses during the "earthquake". It struck her as odd, as she peered into the gaping holes where walls had once been, that there wasn't actually anybody occupying said houses, and she couldn't remember having seen anybody out of military uniform (apart from herself and the Doctor, obviously) since arriving on the planet. She made a quick mental note to ask about it later, as she wandered past a small well that had, miraculously, survived unscathed on her way to meet her father and the Commander.

They were already deep in conversation by the time Jenny reached them.

"-doing our best to move the rubble, but as yet we can't be certain of how far down the damage goes. The entire tunnel could be unstable for all we know," finished the Commander as he came into Jenny's earshot.

"No luck then?" She turned to the Doctor, having caught the main points of the Commander's speech.

"It'd appear not. This is so frustrating!" he replied. Jenny smirked as she saw the tell-tale signs of him trying to repress a tantrum gracing his features. "Are you certain there are no other ways down? Really think about it!"

The three fell into silence, casting their minds back to anything they might have seen or heard that could be useful. Jenny thought of what she'd seen of the village, but all that came to mind now was rubble and empty houses... Apart from the one, small well that was still standing...

A fully formed plan burst into her head before she'd even fully acknowledged that one needed to be hatched. Grinning at her own brilliance, Jenny looked up and quipped, "I have and idea."

Both the Doctor and the Commander's heads shot up as Jenny took off back towards the well, and they had no choice but to follow if they had any hope of hearing her plan.

Jenny peered into the well, before looking back up at the approaching duo and grinning, "I thought so. There's no water in this well."

"Of course there's not- the spring dried up decades ago. That's why we built the..." The Commander paused as he came to realise the brilliance of Jenny's plan as well. "...That's why we built the transport system down there- the tunnels had already been naturally formed."

Jenny turned to the Doctor, who's eyes widened with recognition of what she was trying to wordlessly say, before, shaking his head in awe of her initiative, he chuckled, "You are an absolute genius!"

"What can I say? It's in my genes," Jenny replied modestly, but was unable to keep a proud smile from her face all the same.

"There's just one problem though, isn't there?" the Commander muttered from behind them.

Simultaneously, the Doctor and Jenny turned to face him, their grins slipping slightly.

"The well isn't big enough to fit a grown person down it. It's too small."

The Doctor groaned, realising he was right. There was no way even he would be able to fit his gangly form down there. From beside him, however, Jenny coughed rather indignantly in order to catch his attention. He turned.

"Yes?"

"Well I hate to point out the obvious, but you really put emphasis on the word 'grown' there," she told him, raising her eyebrows.

"So?" he replied, suddenly confused.

"So, who's standing in the immediate area who isn't fully grown?" she asked, pointing to herself just to ensure he understood what she was trying to say.

Comprehension dawned on both the Doctor and Commander's face, before the Commander burst into a grin of his own and the Doctor, meanwhile, became wholeheartedly opposed to the idea.

"No way."

"What? Why?" Jenny's voice harmonised with the Commander's as they spoke simultaneously, but the Doctor held firm- folding his arms across his chest in defiance.

"Absolutely not. I'm not sending you down there into the dark to face an unnamed, mind-reading creature on your own. You're not a normal child Jenny; you seem to be forgetting that."

"And you seem to be forgetting that, not only do I have a perception filter, I've seen so much in my life that I really have nothing left to be afraid of," Jenny replied instantly, crossing her arms to mirror her father. "We promised we'd help, and you know this is the only way to do so. It's either down into the dark I go, or face execution for being a traitor... again."

The last word was whispered so quietly that Jenny was certain only she heard it, but the changing expression on the Doctor's face told her that, even if he hadn't heard, he at least knew what was implied.

The Doctor slowly shook his head, taking a deep breath in order to clear his mind. "Jenny, I've lost you once before. I'm not prepared to risk losing you again."

"_Doctor,_ we've had this conversation before. You didn't lose me, did you?" Jenny asked seriously, taking a step towards her torn father, before softly growling, "You know I'm going to do this whether I get your permission or not. It'd just make things a lot easier if you stepped back and gave me your blessing. I'm not a child, ok, and this is the best chance we have. I'm doing this."

The Doctor sighed, looking between the shared, burning determination set into both Jenny and the Commander's eyes before, groaning heavily and knowing he'd somehow come to regret it, he nodded.

"Alright."

To anybody watching from afar, it wouldn't have been clear that somebody was about to be sent off to try and reason with a personality snatching monster alone, as Jenny and the Commander's victorious laughter made it seem as though something tremendous had happened.

"But!" the Doctor yelled, bringing his companions' attentions back to him. "And I can't believe I'm saying this but, just this once, I want you to be armed. And I also want to be in constant contact with you. Is that clear?"

"Crystal," the other two chimed in unison, still grinning from ear to ear.

* * *

><p>It was nearly an hour later before the Doctor deemed Jenny suitably ready to begin her exploration. The flock of soldiers swamping her finally stepped back and allowed him to examine her appearance.<p>

Her usual clothes were (much to her displeasure) gone, replaced by a black military uniform that was now worn by everyone except her father. A helmet had been strapped to her head, complete with state-of-the-art filming equipment that would live feed images to the hand-held monitor the Doctor was clutching in his hand. A hand gun hung snugly in its holster around her waist, and she was currently fiddling with a walkie-talkie strapped to her belt.

She seemed, overly, very uncomfortable and jumpy in the military uniform, but she had a better chance of blending into the darkness wearing that as opposed to her own brightly coloured, wacky clothes.

"I think I'm ready," she told him, stepping forwards to stand in front of him.

She suddenly realised that she ached to be hugged in that moment- to be told that everything would be fine- because, where she had told the Doctor she had nothing to be afraid of, fear was actually clawing at her stomach walls, making her feel sick. She would never tell him, however. He was already unhappy that she was going in the first place; if she mentioned the almost drowning sensation of dread that was quickly enveloping her there would be no way he'd allow her to continue.

"Have you got the perception filter?" he asked, worry knitted into his furrowed brow.

Jenny pulled the string clad key from her pocket and held it up for him to see. "Yep."

"Alright then," the Doctor nodded, gesturing for the Commander to bring over the line of rope that they would use to lower her down onto the tracks. "Are you feeling alright?"

"I'm coping," Jenny replied truthfully, raising her arms to allow the silent Commander to tie the rope around her waist.

"I think it's time then," the Commander said, straightening up after having secured the rope tightly.

Jenny nodded, following the Doctor back over to the well. She sat on the edge and allowed her legs to dangle down into the dark abyss that lay beneath her, before looking back at her father. His face was white with worry, and he looked ever bit his real age. .

"I'll be fine, you know," she reassured him, whilst secretly also trying to reassure herself in the process.

"Just promise me you'll be careful," he replied, looking no more reassured than before.

"You know I can't promise that," Jenny whispered seriously, before smiling with a mock cheeriness. "But I'll do my best to stay alive, at least."

"Are we ready over there?" the Commander called from beside a bright yellow machine currently housing coils of the rope that was yet to be used.

"Yes, she's ready," replied the Doctor after having been given a nod from Jenny. He gripped her shoulder comfortingly with a pale hand for the briefest of moments, before letting go and stepping back to join the Commander and the rest of the soldiers who had stayed to watch.

Jenny leaned into the well as the machine was switched on and more rope was reeled out for her. Slowly, she was lowered into the ground; her fear speckled eyes were the last thing to be engulfed into the deathly, motionless blackness.

_**R&R? Thanks :) **_


	6. Chapter 6

Jenny hadn't expected the journey to get off to such a bad start. Usually she was fine with dark places, but the enclosed, claustrophobically small space in which she had to fit her body caused an acute sense of paranoia and panic to set in almost immediately. Forcing herself to take deep breaths, she shut her eyes for a few seconds and, even though she could still see the receding patch of light above her through her closed eyelids, this action alone soothed her enough to carry her down into the tunnel.

_And I thought it was dark before_, she thought to herself, realising this was an understatement compared to the state of not-seeing she now found herself in.

"_Jenny? Jenny, have you made it?"_ The Doctor's worried voice echoed suddenly through the darkness from the walkie-talkie still attached to Jenny's belt and, after a few moments of fumbling, she pulled a torch from her pocket in order to get a better look around.

"Yep, made it A-ok," she replied after pulling the walkie-talkie from her belt and up to her mouth. "It's just a tunnel. Although... smells like whatever it is that's down here has been dead for a long time."

She wrinkled her nose, still shining her torch ahead of her, as the sudden odour of decomposing bodies wafted towards her. The smell sat heavily in her nostrils and throat, and it took all her strength not to gag. There was, however, no sign of anything- dead or alive- as far as she could see.

"I'm surprised you can't smell it from up there- it's rancid."

"_No, I can't smell anything,"_ the Doctor told her, his voice grating slightly through the walkie-talkie. _"Is there anything in the opposite direction? Turn around so I can see."_

Jenny, having forgotten about the camera on her head, chuckled slightly and, spinning on her heel, held a hand up to wave at the camera. "I forgot you were on my head-"

She stopped mid sentence as the torchlight came to rest on an abandoned train-like-vehicle now in front of her. The front windows had been smashed and a steady trail of blood was painted along the control panel, before continuing out of the smashed window and along the tracks behind her for as far as the torchlight would stretch.

"_Well, that doesn't exactly ease the worry."_ The Doctor's strained voice sounded from the walkie-talkie again.

"Yeah, but there are no bodies, which could either be a good thing or a very, very bad thing," Jenny mused whilst peering around the side of the train.

No- definitely no bodies. What she was actually met with was tonnes and tonnes of explosives and military weaponry peeking out from through the windows.

"Well look at that. It's a cargo train; great. That means I'm less likely to run into a stack of cadavers."

"_Don't bank on that..."_

"Oh, thanks for the vote of confidence," she huffed, before turning away from the train and heading off down the tracks- following the trail of blood- in the opposite direction.

As she walked- occasionally hopping between the beams of the tracks in order to keep her spirits up- she pulled the perception filter key from her pocket and looped it around her neck, careful not to knock the camera from atop her head.

"_What was that?"_ The Doctor's voice sounded suddenly panicked.

Jenny chuckled. "Don't worry, it's not the underground swamp monster or whatever your twisted mind is conjuring up- I was just putting the perception filter on, Doc."

"_Please, for the love of all that is good and holy, never call me 'Doc' again."_

Jenny couldn't help but laugh at the sheer depth of disgust laced into the Doctor's voice, though of course she kept the volume down just in case the underground swamp monster _did _decide to jump out of the shadows and disembowel her.

"Why, don't you appreciate me calling you Doc?"

"_No. It makes you sound like Jack Harkness."_

"And is that such a bad thing?" Jenny asked, smirking to herself.

"_Coming from your mouth, yes."_

Jenny chuckled again, finding the tension she didn't even realise had been resting on her shoulders begin to lift as she got used to her surroundings. That was, until she spotted something ahead of her in the torch's beam.

"_Jenny, why have you stopped?" _

She looked down and realised she had, quite rightly, come to a standstill, though couldn't remember doing so.

"There's something up ahead," she murmured, drawing her gun from its holster as she began to step tentatively towards the shape.

The torchlight, if anything, just made it more difficult to distinguish what the shape was but, as Jenny came within ten feet of the large mass before her, her breath caught in her throat as she realised what it was.

"It's a person!" she cried, throwing herself to her knees next to the tangle of broken, bloody limbs.

"_Jenny, I-"_

Jenny's scream cut off the rest of the Doctor's sentence as, rolling the motionless body over, she recognised the face that flopped into view. But it was impossible.

"But I- I know him!" she stammered, backing away from the body until her back was pressed firmly against the wall of the tunnel. She felt the gun slip from between her fingers and heard it clatter to the ground beside her.

"_Who Jenny? Who do you know?" _

"But he's dead..." Jenny muttered to herself, ignoring the Doctor's comment and staring, dumbfounded, into the face of her former Commanding Officer. Or what was left of his face, anyhow.

"_Jenny, what're you talking about? There's nobody there!"_

This time the Doctor's words got through to her, and she froze with a sudden realisation.

"You can't see him?" she all but whispered, positioning her head in a way that she knew the camera would pick up the sight before her.

"_There's nobody there,"_ the Doctor repeated, his voice low and filled with confusion and worry.

"Ok," Jenny replied slowly, taking a deep, calming breath before pushing away from the wall.

She turned her head away from the sight of her dead CO- quickly realising that either the perception filter was having no effect whatsoever, or this was all a very sick coincidence- and continued walking. Her legs shook slightly, and she had to hold the torch that she'd managed to keep a grip on in both hands in order not to drop it.

"_Jenny- are you alright?"_ The Doctor's voice was agonisingly quiet.

"Yeah, fine," she replied shortly, having to close her eyes as she passed another body from her past- this time a young woman who she had failed to save from a car crash she had inexplicably caused.

She was so far from alright. She didn't know what she hoped to achieve from carrying on, allowing the creature to dig further into her mind and soul as it was doing now, but all she knew was that- for the moment- this was more bearable than the thought of having her father watch her execution for treachery.

"_You're lying,"_ the Doctor's voice stated softly- her only comfort in a world that was quickly becoming constructed exclusively of corpses.

A whimper escaped her lips as the torchlight shone on the beginning of a wall of burn victims to her left- every single face of which she remembered from some moment in her past. At least, every single extinguishable face. To her right, gunshot victims were piled as far as the eye could see. Perhaps the worst part of it, though, was the gentle moaning coming from the mouths of the dead, and the blind eyes following her every move.

"_The perception filter isn't working, is it?"_ the Doctor asked. He got no reply, so continued with, _"Jenny, please just turn back. You don't have to do this- just turn around!"_

"Can't," Jenny replied instinctively, through gritted teeth, before she'd even realised. A strange feeling was beginning to itch at the back of her mind.

"_Why not? Just turn back!"_

"No- I deserve this."

Jenny came to a sudden stop as she realised the calm truth behind her words. She _did _deserve this- it was her punishment for getting away with over four hundred years of life when all the people around her had suffered and died before their time. Because of her. Because of what she'd done, of what she was capable of.

"You deserve every single second of this hell," a familiar voice echoed around the silence.

Looking up, Jenny initially thought she must have stepped in front of a mirror but, on second inspection, she realised she was actually faced with a vision of herself. The vision was identical in every way to the original, though it wore the traditional red military jacket, skinny jeans, top hat and converse combo instead of the military uniform that Jenny was actually wearing. There was also a look in her eye that Jenny had never seen in herself before. Well- not very often.

"Ah. I'm guessing that, if all these people are the creature bearing me my soul, then you must be my worst fear, yes? I always thought it might be you," she told the vision in as brave a voice as she could muster. The physical quaking in her body gave away the fear she was actually feeling, however.

The Doctor had begun yelling to her frantically through the walkie-talkie, but she couldn't hear him any longer. She was all alone with her inner most thoughts and fears for the first time in a very long time, and not even he could penetrate through that.

"Oh, I think we both know I'm not your worst fear- not by a long shot," the vision chuckled evilly, before glancing over her shoulder and calling, "Tom? Hugo? Max? Come and say hello to mummy..."

And, stepping out of the dark and into the torchlight, three perfect images of the most important people in Jenny's life appeared before her. Her hearts appeared to stop.

* * *

><p>Miles above all this on the surface, the Doctor was quickly becoming hysterical. He paced backwards and forwards in a newly erected tent that covered the well and equipment from the quickly approaching night air, clutching the hand-held monitor in one hand and a walkie-talkie in the other. He could see nothing but a patch of illuminated wall on the screen, but he knew Jenny must be seeing so much more.<p>

"Jenny? Jenny please just say something- anything!" he cried, passing by a seated, frustrated Commander for what felt like the millionth time.

"_Dad."_

Just that one word was enough to cause him to crumple to the ground. The agony- the utter desperation and need to be in his warm, soothing embrace- spilled out of her mouth in just that one, simple word. Forget their pact about not giving away who she was- right now she needed exactly that, her dad.

And the Doctor couldn't get to her. And that was killing him.

He sat on the floor, aware of all the people watching as tears began to roll down his face, and simply watched the jerky, frightened movements on the screen in front of him.

"I'm right here," he whispered into the walkie-talkie.

* * *

><p>"Mummy, why are you crying?" the youngest of the three- Max- asked in an angelic tone.<p>

Jenny was numb. She couldn't move; she couldn't even feel. The only thing that alerted her to the fact that her dead son was telling the truth was the blurring of her vision as fresh tears cascaded down from her eyes. She tried to speak, but no noise would come out of her mouth- she was in a state of complete shock.

That was until she noticed the blood staining her darling boy's shirt. Until she saw the beads of blood rolling steadily down his neck from a clean, agonisingly deep slash that had opened there.

She turned her own, suddenly stiff, neck towards Tom and Hugo, and realised they were the same. She was being shown the last image she had of her family but, instead of them screaming and crying out in agony, they stood and simply watched her with sad, judgemental eyes. She didn't understand quite how, but that somehow made the image a whole lot worse.

"But what's this- your family? Why on Earth would you be afraid of your family?" the insane vision of herself asked in mock concern, an evil grin quickly spreading across her features. "Is it really your family you fear, or is it what they have to say to you?"

"Please- no." Jenny finally found her voice in a broken whisper, and took a step backwards but, no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't look away. The whole situation was quickly becoming a very perverse game.

"It's your fault."

Her breath caught in her throat as Jenny turned slowly to face the source of that utterance. She looked into the eyes of her beloved husband and, instead of seeing the undying love that usually sat quite contentedly there, she was instead met with a heartbreakingly raw sense of resentment and, perhaps even worse (if things could get any worse), a flash of pure indifference.

"Tom," she pleaded, something stirring in the pit of her bubbling stomach that made her take a step towards him.

"No," he told her firmly, venom thick in his tone. "You're the one who killed us. You left us to die- your own husband and children, the people you're supposed to care the most about- and you just ran away like a coward."

"I-"

"It's quite ironic, isn't it?" Jenny was cut off by her evil vision twin. "When they needed you the most you ran away, and only now- after there's no hope of saving them- you can't bring yourself to move at all."

Jenny began to feel dizzy- the whole tunnel spinning- as the sheer weight of devastation and shock and utter numbness began to crush her between steely fingers, and she was certain she'd soon snap under the strain.

"Mummy, why did you leave us alone in the dark? Why didn't you save _us _like you save everyone else?" Hugo whispered, though his voice carried through the entire tunnel.

Jenny couldn't listen to it, not any more. She felt something inside her shatter and was sure it was her hearts. She had to focus on something else- anything that would take her away from all this turmoil so she could wait for her, once again, frozen limbs to begin moving again in peace.

As this thought entered her head, she heard a faint buzzing coming from a place she couldn't quite pinpoint. She focused on it, ignoring the wailing of the dead and the accusations from her family, and the noise began to get louder. She realised it was a voice- a familiar voice. But who?

"_JENNY!"_

It was the Doctor! He'd been yelling through the walkie-talkie to her all this time and she simply hadn't heard, as though she'd simply tuned his voice out of her head. But she was listening now.

"_Jenny, please! You are strong enough to enough to beat this! Just run! Run back to the well shaft and I'll pull you back up! You don't have to be afraid- you don't ever have to be afraid again because I will always be with you. I will never leave you, but you have to move and you have to move now!"_

His orders were working. As she listened, some of the fear and guilt controlling Jenny lifted and she found she could move. The visions were still there, but the sound of her father's voice gave her the inner strength to ignore them.

And then she was running- tearing past the piles of bodies and back towards the abandoned train and the well shaft. She was that focused on what was ahead of her that she wasn't watching her footing and so, as her boot caught between two lines in the train tracks, she went flying to the ground where she lay for a few moments, shocked and letting out a breath she hadn't realised she was holding.

"_Come on Jenny, get up. You're doing so well- you're almost there!"_

The Doctor's voice, once again, gave her the strength to raise her head. But what she saw when she did look up caused bile to rise in her throat.

The visions had caught up. Stood before her were the same, hooded figures from years ago, and flailing in their strong grips- knives held to their throats- were her family.

_Not again. _

"Mummy, please, help!"

She couldn't let them die- not again.

All thoughts of the Doctor and the fact that none of this was actually real gone from her mind, Jenny found she was suddenly on her feet and reaching out to take Max's outstretched hand in hers.

"_Jenny, no!"_

She heard the Doctor's voice but it didn't register. She took Max's hand in hers.

And then everything went black.

_**R&R? Cheers :) **_


	7. Chapter 7

"What? No! The monitor's gone off- I can't see her!" The Doctor frantically pulled the sonic screwdriver from his pocket and pointed it to the monitor, but nothing happened. "No, come on! It's not working! Whatever's down there must be intercepting the signal- I can't see her!"

The Commander was quickly on his feet, striding across the tent to look at the screen himself. "So we have no contact with her?"

"Jenny? Jenny, can you hear me?" the Doctor yelled into the walkie-talkie, but that, too, appeared to have gone suddenly dead. He prayed, whilst turning to face the Commander, that that didn't mean the same fate had enveloped Jenny. "Yes. We've lost contact with her."

The sudden reality of the situation hit him then, and it was all he could do not to fall to his knees and weep again. There could be any number of horrors occurring down in that dark tunnel. Jenny was lost- alone- in the pitch black and appeared to be surrounded by her worst fears. The Doctor didn't know how things could get any worse.

Stepping over the taut rope still leading into the well shaft, he wandered over to... wait.

The Doctor whipped around again, a plan instantaneously settling into place in his mind, as he raced back over to the rope and the large, yellow winding machine one end was still attached to.

"I know how to get to her!" he yelled in reply to the Commander's questioning look.

The Doctor pulled his sonic screwdriver from his pocket again and pointed it to the machine. There was a judder, and then the rope began to wind back into the machine quickly. Every so often the rope would go limp and drop to the floor, before snapping back up into its taut position once again. Something wasn't quite right.

"Jenny?" the Doctor yelled down the well shaft after crossing the tent again. There was, indeed, a dark figure rising up through the pipe, but the shape was wrong. Disfigured.

Vomit filled the Doctor's mouth as the first part of Jenny's body appeared from the top of the well, and he quickly had to swallow it down for fear of spitting it everywhere. Jenny's rear end protruded first, and she was bent almost fully double, meaning her head and feet were the last to appear.

"Oh my god!"

The Commander was by the Doctor's side seconds after switching the yellow machine off and helped him lift Jenny's limp body to the floor, before untying the rope from her waist. She was covered in blood- her face and other visible skin littered with gashes and scrapes- and, if not for the gentle (if slightly irregular) rise and fall of her chest, she could easily have been mistaken for dead.

"Jenny? Jenny, please wake up. Speak to me, please; I need you to speak to me!" the Doctor cried, his hearts thumping painfully against his ribcage.

Time seemed to slow right down as he looked into Jenny's unconscious face. Even though she wasn't awake, pain and fear were prominent on her gaunt, grey features. For a moment he could think of nothing- simply sit with her cradled in his arms and stare down at her. He forgot where he was and who else was there; all he could focus on was the guilt and sickness spreading like a virus through his body.

This was all his fault. He wasn't sure what had happened in that tunnel- and now he probably never would- but he knew that it was down to him that Jenny was now lying, motionless, in his arms.

"Wake up, Jenny," he croaked softly, tapping her cheek with his hand to try and gain a response. Nothing.

"Mr. Smith- give her to us. She'll be in good hands, I assure you."

The Doctor felt a strong hand grip his shoulder and remembered where he was. Looking up, he realised the hand belonged to the Commander. Two members of the medical staff had appeared behind him from out of the, now, dark air outside, carrying a stretcher between them. The Doctor clutched Jenny tighter to his chest as the medics reached out to take her from him.

"Mr. Smith, please, there's nothing you can do for her now. Let them take her to Miss Brown in the medical bay- she'll take good care of her."

Upon hearing Lucy's last name- now the only person left the Doctor felt he could trust- he nodded and wordlessly placed Jenny on the stretcher, before watching the medics carry her out into the night.

He was about to follow when the Commander called from behind him "Mr. Smith? A moment please."

Sighing in frustration, the Doctor pivoted on his heel to face the other man. The Commander wore a strange expression- a mixture of confusion, interest, despair and so many other emotions woven onto his face.

"I don't suppose Mr. Smith actually is your name, now I come to think of it, is it? And you're not really from the assessment office- they contacted me and said they wouldn't be able to send somebody out until the end of the week," he informed him seriously, all the time watching for a reaction. "Who are you? What do you want?"

"To help," the Doctor replied quietly with a shrug.

"But Jenny- if that is her real name- called you 'Dad'... I'm just trying to understand why complete strangers- civilians- would risk their lives in the place of trained soldiers." The Commander shook his head slightly- bemused.

"Let's just say it's either choosing to help or hanging ourselves from guilt."

With nothing else to add, and the Commander now in shock over his words, the Doctor span on his heel again and, without another word said between them, he stepped out of the tent and into the night.

* * *

><p>Lucy was just about to sign out for the night and allow the relief staff to take over when they brought Jenny in. Quickly abandoning all thoughts of a warm mug of coco and her cosy bed, she was by the girl's side in an instant and helped the medics lower her gently onto one of the few free cots. She was in a much worse shape than any of the others had been.<p>

"What happened?" she asked quickly and professionally, bending down over Jenny's head to assess the more pressing of her injuries.

"Far as I know, same as the others. She was just dragged backwards up a well shaft afterwards," one of the medics shrugged as they wandered off towards the staff room attached to the back of the tent.

"Oh, alright then. Cheers guys- not like I could have used any help!" Lucy muttered sarcastically as they disappeared from sight.

She was just about to reach out for her first aid kit when the sound of frantic footsteps drifted in through the entrance flaps of the tent and, seconds later, the Doctor's pale, withdrawn face appeared, quickly followed by the rest of his shaking body.

"Where is she?" he asked immediately, before spotting Jenny in Lucy's care and striding across the room towards them. "How is she?"

He pulled up a chair and sat beside his daughter's head, taking her hand in both of his.

"To be honest, I haven't had much chance to check her over- she's only just arrived," Lucy replied, taking from her first aid kit a small torch.

The Doctor watched tentatively as she reached out and pulled Jenny's eyelid back gently, revealing bloodshot eyes, before shining the light into it. She repeated the action with the other eye, then stood back.

"Her pupils are still dilating so, for now, she's just unconscious." The Doctor let out a sigh of relief, but Lucy held a hand up to signal she hadn't finished talking. "That isn't good news though, I'm afraid. If you look on her hands, you'll see she has burn-like marks on them, yes?"

The Doctor lifted one of Jenny's hands up to the light. There, smeared across her palm and finger tips, were indeed the marks Lucy had spoken of.

"Yes. What does it mean?"

"They're the mark the creature leaves once its latched onto somebody's soul. At the moment she's just unconscious and in a short while she should wake up, but she'll be in total agony when she does. It's almost as if the creature wants them to be in as much pain as possible while it rips away everything they are, because it wakes them up in order to do so. Usually we end up anaesthetising them just to put them out of their misery, poor little buggers. The thing is though, by the time the anaesthetic wears off, they've already been sucked dry."

"How long does she have?" The Doctor's voice was filled with anguish.

"After she wakes up? A couple of hours at the most."

The Doctor nodded, a hard lump of emotion beginning to stick in his throat. "And there's no cure?"

"Not that we know of. If we knew what the creature was perhaps that would give us a few clues, but nothing as yet. I'm so sorry." Lucy's last statement was murmured so genuinely that the Doctor had a hard time fighting back the tears that threatened to consume him once again.

"It's not your fault- there's no need to apologise," he told her firmly, before looking back to Jenny. "It's my fault. I got so caught up in everything that I forgot that I'm supposed to be responsible for her. I'm her father for god's sake, and I just let her go down there by herself without even thinking about the consequences."

"I didn't realise she was your daughter. But you mustn't blame yourself. People do crazy things when they feel guilty. Right now what she needs is for you to be strong for her- especially in these last few hours. And she's lucky, really. Nobody else here had anyone who loves them there to hold their hand at the end. At least you're here." Lucy laid a reassuring hand on the Doctor's shoulder and flashed him an encouraging, albeit sad, smile.

The Doctor nodded and, although he did still feel guilty, he knew Lucy was right. Jenny had been through so much, and he was selfish to think of himself at a time like this. When she woke he would need to be there, no matter how much it broke his hearts.

"Alright, I'm going to get these wounds seen to before she wakes up. No doubt she'll be jerking around too much for me to do it afterwards," Lucy sighed, pulling her first aid kit towards her and rummaging around inside for what she would need.

But the Doctor wasn't listening, or even watching for that matter. His eyes were settled on the walkie-talkie he dumped on a metal table beside him upon entering the tent, having forgotten to put it down as he left the Commander's company. A quiet, low crackling was emanating from it, and he was sure he could hear whispering.

He looked to Jenny- her walkie-talkie was no longer attached to her waist. His eyes widened as he realised she must have dropped it in the tunnel. That meant...

"_Doctor..."_

Both Lucy and the Doctor's heads snapped towards the walkie-talkie again. The voice that had spoken was breathy and had a strange, double-timbre effect to it. The Doctor stood and quickly scooped it up in his hand before, avoiding Lucy's inquisitive gaze, he left the tent and stood, alone, out in the night air, facing the tent he knew the well was hidden by. He had a strange feeling this conversation was just for him.

"Hello, this is the Doctor. Might I ask with whom I'm speaking?" he asked as politely as he could muster, repressing the urge to scream at whatever it was to let his daughter go and never touch his family again.

"_Doctor..."_

"Yes, I think we've established that I'm the Doctor, thank you! How do you know who I am?"

"_We have touched your child's mind and soul, and glimpsed upon everything held there. We know all that she knows of you- all the research she conducted in order to find you and the memories of your time together in the blue box of impossibilities- they all belong to us now," _the creature mocked openly.

The Doctor's blood boiled, and he had to physically stop himself from throwing the walkie-talkie across the village square. Instead, he brought it to his mouth and growled "If you have all her thoughts and memories of me- or are about to take them, whatever- then you must also know what I'll do to you if you don't give them back to her."

"_We do not feel threatened by you, Doctor. You always give your enemies a chance."_

"Yes I do. So here's your chance- give all those people, my daughter included, their souls back and then leave this place forever, and I'll forget any of this ever happened," the Doctor snarled, spit spraying passionately all over the walkie-talkie.

"_This is unacceptable. We were dormant until the Humans swept through the underground spring in order to build their transport system. If not for them we would still be dormant, and we cannot help the fact that we feed upon personality. If we were to leave then we would die, and so we propose a compromise. We will deposit every persons' soul, as you call it, back into the correct body... in exchange for yours."_

The Doctor paused for a moment, caught off guard by the sudden request. He took a deep breath and raised the walkie-talkie to his mouth, about to speak, when a scream filled his ears and he immediately turned.

"Doctor! Come quick!"

And then he was running, back towards the medical tent and the source of the noise. All thought of the walkie-talkie still in his hand and the creature on the other end of it vanished from his mind in an instant.

Upon entering the medical tent, his eyes went straight towards Jenny, and a gasp escaped his lips. Lucy was desperately trying to move every sharp object out of the way as Jenny thrashed and rolled around on her cot. He was more drawn, however, to the slight golden haze that hovered about her skin as she flailed madly.

"She's having a fit!" Lucy cried as the Doctor raced to her side. "What's that golden light?"

"Her Time Lord genes are launching a counter attack on the creature, but she can't regenerate because she isn't injured, and her soul would stay the same anyway- she's technically still the same person- and so, now her soul is being taken, her body is going into spasm, not knowing what else to do," the Doctor replied, knowing Lucy wouldn't get a word of what he'd said, and really not caring in the slightest.

"Oh... Well how long will it last? Should I get some restraints?" Lucy asked, sidestepping the potentially brain-short fusing conversation in regards to what the Doctor had just explained, and sticking to being platonic about the situation.

"Shouldn't do. When her body realises the regeneration is a no-go, it'll take a metaphorical step backwards and just allow her soul to be taken. She should stop in a moment," the Doctor explained, never taking his eyes from Jenny's thrashing, convulsing form.

But, just as he had predicted, a few moments later Jenny took a deep, rattling breath and her crazed eyes snapped open- jerking into a sitting position so quickly that it caused the Doctor and Lucy to pull away from her in shock- before, her eyes closing again, she dropped like a rag doll back onto the cot and was still. The golden light surrounding her disappeared instantly.

Lucy and the Doctor glanced at each other, tensely waiting for something terrible to happen, when a groan escaped Jenny's lips and, putting a shaking hand over her eyes to shield them from the sudden bright light of the medical tent lamps, she slowly opened her eyes.

"Hey," the Doctor murmured softly once her eyes came to rest on him.

A flash of confusion graced Jenny's features for a moment, but was quickly replaced by a wide-eyed, open-mouthed expression of utter agony as pain tore through her body. Her hands flew to her head as she tried to tuck it into her chest, and managed to choke out a strangled "ow" before, remembering where she was, she laid back and tried to appear as though nothing was wrong. Her pained, grating expression told the Doctor everything he needed to know, however.

"Jenny, can you hear me? Don't worry, you're safe now- you're back in the medical bay. You've had quite a rough time, though." Lucy was back with her torch again, shining it into Jenny's eyes.

"I know- I remember every single second of it, unfortunately," Jenny gasped in reply, resisting the urge to scrape her aching brain out of her head with her fingernails. She turned to the Doctor again, and saw burning guilt pouring out of his tear-glistening eyes. She sighed and held out her hand for him to take. "Please don't look at me like that. You're breaking my hearts."

"Sorry," the Doctor sniffed, using his free hand to wipe the tears away from his eyes. "Stupid question, but how're you feeling?"

"As though my soul is being ripped out of my body, how do you think I'm feeling?" Jenny replied with a chuckle, but it quickly turned into a grimace as another shock of pain shot through her head. "Ow... it's weird though. Even though I don't believe in souls as little balls of light floating in your chest, I didn't expect the pain to be in my he-ARGHH!"

Jenny's hands clutched at her skull again, thrashing and yelling as pain gripped her mind. This time, fearing she would roll right out of the cot, the Doctor reached over and pinned her firmly down by the shoulders until the pain subsided and she was left, quivering and sobbing quietly into her palms. Any colour that had returned to her face upon waking up had quickly vanished again, leaving her ghostly pale and sickly looking.

"Sorry," it was her turn to croak, wiping her eyes with shaking hands and laying them back by her sides again whilst taking deep, steadying breaths in order to try and calm herself.

"Hey- you have absolutely nothing to apologise for!" the Doctor replied in as stern a voice as he could muster in the circumstances.

Jenny took another deep breath and nodded, before turning to watch Lucy busily hooking her up to an IV drip. She caught Jenny watching and, with a sad smile, said "Pretty soon you won't be able to feed yourself."

"I wondered why everyone had one," she replied, briefly glancing around before, realising she would soon become one of the many zombies as well, she quickly looked back again. "Actually, I was just wondering... seeing how I'm dying-"

"-You aren't dying!" the Doctor snapped.

"Everything that I am is being taken away from me. My physical body might not be dying, but who I am is. And doesn't that make the whole thing worse?" Jenny replied immediately, turning to the Doctor with pain riddled eyes, before averting her gaze again. "Anyway, I was just going to ask whether, if it's not too much trouble, somebody could fetch my clothes. I'd feel much more comfortable in them rather than this uniform. Especially now..."

"Yes, of course. I'll get them for you," Lucy offered, hanging the bag of clear liquid being fed into Jenny's arm on a hook nearby and disappearing off to find her clothes.

Jenny turned back to the Doctor once Lucy was out of earshot and, quite seriously, leaned towards him and whispered, "Don't you dare do anything stupid after I'm... indisposed. Don't force yourself down that well or trip in the village square and end up shooting yourself in the head or something."

"I won't- I never carry weapons," the Doctor told her, a sad smile parting his lips for the briefest of seconds.

"You know what I mean though," Jenny replied, still serious. "Promise me, please-"

"-Alright, here are your clothes," Lucy called from the entrance, bringing into the room a neat pile of brightly coloured clothes and a small top hat resting on top.

The Doctor stood immediately, knowing that Jenny would ask him again and knowing he could promise her nothing. He avoided her gaze altogether as he stepped out of the way for Lucy to put the clothes down on the small metal table, but not before he'd grabbed the walkie-talkie again and slipped it into his pocket.

"I suspect you'll be needing some help, yes?" Lucy asked kindly, watching Jenny nod as she finally admitted defeat- struggling even to sit up by herself by this point.

"Yes, I'll just wait outside until you're... decent..." the Doctor rambled, scratching the back of his head before walking back out into the night air.

He honestly hadn't been sure what his answer to the still unnamed creature (or creatures, as it now seemed) would be until seeing Jenny writhing in pain but, as he came to a stop outside the medical tent and brought the walkie-talkie to his mouth, he knew exactly what his words would be.

"I agree to your terms. Tell me what to do..."

_**R&R pleaseeeee :) **_


	8. Chapter 8

The Doctor paced purposefully across the village square, heading towards the shadowy, ominous forest ahead of him. He had told nobody where he was going, or what he planned to do, because there would be no tears, or begging, or goodbyes; he would just disappear into the night without anybody realising what his final act of saviour was costing him. It was the best way he could think of going, actually- quietly, but with the satisfaction in knowing he was dying in the place of somebody he loved, as well as hundreds of others. Perfect.

He was so focused on his resignation to the fact that he was about to lose everything he was, that he didn't notice the Commander falling into step beside him until he spoke.

"And where do you think you're sneaking off to in the middle of the night?"

The Doctor snapped out of his thoughts and skidded to a halt, before turning to the Commander.

"Sorry, didn't see you there!" He grinned in what he hoped was a natural way, all the while feeling the same empty resolve in the pit of his stomach as before. "There's just something I have to do- it's important- but it shouldn't take too long. Just don't wait up."

He clapped the Commander on the back, before setting off on his way again.

"I never did get your actual name," the Commander called, still slightly confused, after him.

The Doctor smiled ruefully before, spinning on the spot to face the Commander again, he spread his arms wide and stated, "I'm the Doctor, and I will always do everything within my power to make people better."

And, with that, he turned again and continued on his way, leaving the Commander to watch him disappear into the night.

"Whatever the cost..." the Doctor muttered once sure he was out of earshot.

* * *

><p>The Doctor had followed the creature's instructions to the absolute letter so, as he stood amongst the dangerously tall trees that cast him into almost total darkness- the cry of alien birds and nocturnal animals echoing around him- he became quickly unsure of whether he had heard properly. He was simply stood, ankle deep in mud and freezing cold, totally alone, in the middle of a forest.<p>

"Er, hello? Creepy, soul-sucking monster thing? Hi- so I'm in the place you told me to be- I even found the boulder that looks like Gandhi's face and everything- so what now?" He hopped onto said boulder as he talked into the walkie-talkie still in his hand.

"_Enter..."_

He was just about to ask the obvious question playing on his mind when, underneath him, the boulder began to rumble, then move. Quickly vacating his spot atop it, he watched as it slid back to reveal a small set of stone steps leading down into darkness.

"Secret passage- any other time I'd be having a field day," he murmured to himself, before beginning to descend the steps.

Blackness hung to him like a coat, pulling him further and further down into its icy grip, until he reached the bottom step and found himself in front of a door.

"_This entrance was used by thieves and bandits in order to steal cargo from passing trains. There is barely a soul alive that knows of its existence,"_ the creature informed, an almost smug tone entering its voice at the use of its clever pun.

"Can't beat a bit of useless trivia before you get your soul sucked out," the Doctor commented dryly, before reaching out with his spare hand to push the door open.

He peered through the, now, hole in the wall. He was in the entrance of what appeared to be a huge underground station, capable of letting at least six trains through on different tracks at the same time. Small, quickly diminishing bulbs managed to shed a little light into the place from the ceiling; enough, at least, for the Doctor's eyes to adjust, come to rest on the sight before him and understand what was going on.

Lining the walls, either side of him, were a series of large, green, organic-looking pods and, as the Doctor looked closer, he realised that a human face could be made out from under the layers of what actually appeared to be vines that made up each one.

He followed the direction the vines took as they snaked off and around the room, crossing and looping over each other, until they all joined in an elaborate web strung from the back wall. And amongst that web...

Vomit, for what now felt like the millionth time, rose in the Doctor's throat and a cold sweat ran freely down his face as he finally realised who- or what- these creatures were.

The Jalvoltri.

He had never actually met them before, but knew enough about them to know he should have realised it was them much earlier on. He had been a fool, and it had cost him so much.

Stepping through the small door and out into the centre of the room, the Doctor was faced with a huge, black, carnivorous plant of a creature. It reminded him, somewhat, of a rose in shape (which only caused his guilt to deepen ever further as he remembered his long-lost companion), only a hundred times bigger, a thousand times deadlier and a million times more intelligent. And, dotted around it- also hung amongst the web of vines- could only be its children; they were ugly and half-formed, but littered with razor-sharp teeth.

As the creatures became aware of the Doctor's presence (he wasn't totally sure how- they didn't appear to have eyes), a couple of nearby vines began to twitch in anticipation, which caused the Doctor to notice the gaping holes and sets of sharp teeth on the end of each one. _Great._

"Sorry- only me! Hello!" the Doctor called loudly, waving both arms above his head as enthusiastically as he could muster, given the circumstances.

"You kept your word."

The Jalvoltri sounded surprised (although, again, the Doctor didn't know how- the gaping hole in the centre of each rose shape didn't move as they talked; the noise just seemed to reverberate around the room from nowhere).

"Of course I did!" the Doctor replied indignantly. "I'm not going to just stand by and let you destroy all those lives!"

"We expected you to have a plan or trick."

"And what makes you think I don't?" the Doctor asked with a sly smile, all the time still eyeing the twitching vines around him cautiously. He had no plan at all, but the creature, surely, couldn't know that, could it?

"You are alone."

Apparently it did.

He didn't know why, but something about those three simple words got to the Doctor. He had been alone before, of course, but he couldn't help but feel as though, this time, it was supposed to be different. He had taken Jenny for granted- always expected her to be there, after having fought off death many times before- and she was, at least partially by now, gone. And when she woke up, he would be gone.

Jenny had been more right than he could ever have foreseen that night, many months ago, as they sat in the safe embrace of the Tardis and stared out into the cosmos. The majesty and breath-taking beauty of the entire universe _did _come with a price, and that price _was _soul-crushing loneliness. But-

"That's never stopped me before," the Doctor murmured after a few moments, looking back up at the Jalvoltri.

"But your compassion, amongst other things, proceeds you, Doctor. You will let your essence die because you cannot stand to see your child suffer and cry."

"That's very true," the Doctor agreed quietly, "but if I have to die, I at least want to know why. What's so special about me? Why would you give up hundreds of souls in exchange for mine? There has to be a reason."

"You are old and wise and soaked in the blood of millions. You can change your face and walk away another man; you have loved and lost more times than you any longer care to count. You carry the weight of the universe on your shoulders, alone, but you still find beauty in the simple chirping of a bird or the wind whistling through autumn foliage. Light and darkness hides inside you in equal measure, yet you can swing so freely from one end of the spectrum to the other in mere seconds. You are beautiful, awe-inspiring, magical. But also terrible, vengeful and merciless. You, Doctor, are the very best and also the worst thing ever to have happened to the universe throughout the whole of time and space. We could feed on you forever, becoming infinitely strong and powerful."

"I see," the Doctor sighed after a short pause. "But if you're going to get rid of me, it would probably have been best if you'd left the part about you gaining infinite power out of your little speech. Doesn't exactly bestow confidence that what I'm doing is right..."

"And yet you will do it anyway because, above all, you are kind."

"You know, for a telepathic, soul-sucking alien plant, you're being very complimentary..."

"We simply state facts, Doctor. We did not say that we agree with them," the Jalvoltri chuckled evilly. "And now, Doctor, enough time has been wasted. Your death is eminent."

The Doctor sighed and, as he felt the vines begin to creep up and around his body, he closed his eyes- waiting for the end.

"_Would the Doctor please make his way to the surface? We have an angry child here waiting for him, and she's expecting one _hell_ of an explanation."_

The Doctor's eyes snapped open as Jenny's weak, yet very much alive and surprisingly angry voice echoed through the room. He glanced around and spotted a series of speakers over by the small platform to his left.

Oh, she was clever.

"_Once again, that's the Doctor to the surface. Now!"_

And, as if on cue (and, knowing Jenny, it probably was), a humongous, ground-shaking explosion tore through the station and chunks of rock began to fall from the ceiling. And then, suddenly, frantic hands were pulling the Doctor upwards and deep, resonating voices were shouting incoherently at him.

The Doctor looked up and saw two soldiers, both hanging by ropes that led up through a freshly blown hole above them, fighting intently against the assaulting vines whilst keeping firm grips on him in order to pull him up to safety.

"DOCTOR!" The Jalvoltri was screaming as well now, but the Doctor could barely hear it.

"No! Put me back down- I have to do this! It has to be me!" he yelled, squirming, but it was no good- the soldiers had hold of him too tightly. His head whipped around to face the Jalvoltri again. "This isn't my doing! I swear- this isn't a trick!"

"Lies, Doctor! You will forever rue this day! We gave you a chance to save your people and now you have denied them that chance! You have doomed them, Doctor! You have doomed them all!"

"No!" the Doctor screamed after them, but it was too late- he had been pulled out into the cold, night air.

_**Bit of a shorter one this time, but I had to get the confrontation out of the way :) I imagine there will only be a few more chapters after this one until the story is wrapped up and finished, but I hope you're enjoying it!**_

_**Could I pester you for a review? I enjoy hearing what you think of my work :D**_


	9. Chapter 9

_**A/N: This is the turn of events from the moment the Doctor leaves the medical tent, from Jenny's point of view. Enjoy! **_

Jenny had known the second the Commander had entered the medical tent that something was terribly wrong. The Doctor had been outside by himself for way too long, and hadn't returned when called.

"What's wrong?" she asked, pulling herself painfully out of the foetal position she had taken up on her cot as he strode towards her.

"Well, it's your father. I've just seen him wandering off towards the forest, alone. When I questioned him about it he said there was something important that he had to do. The thing is, though, I don't totally trust him..."

Jenny sighed in a nervous exasperation. "I told him not to do anything stupid!"

"And you think he will?"

"Of course he will! He's just gone wandering off into a forest in the middle of the night for no apparent reason- of course he's planning something stupid!" Jenny cried, running a shaking hand through her cold, sweaty hair. "Did he have anything with him?"

"Erm... I don't think so. It was quite dark though, so..." The Commander paused to think for a moment, then his eyes widened. "He had a walkie-talkie in his hand."

Jenny's hands automatically went to her belt and, upon finding nothing there, her eyes mirrored the Commander's huge, fearful orbs.

"I must have dropped it in the tunnel..."

And, in the second it took Jenny's mind to put the pieces together, she knew what her brave, idiotic father was planning. She looked up and saw the Commander's face still laced with confusion, but she didn't have time to explain anything to him now.

"I have to stop him."

She was on her feet before her brain had caught up- the IV drip ripped from her arm without even a flinch- but when it did catch up, pain rippled through her head again and she gasped, staggering into the open arms of the Commander, who helped to keep her upright.

"Woah- you're not going anywhere in your condition. I'm surprised you're still functioning properly at all. Where's Miss Brown?" He looked around for the brunette, but she was nowhere to be seen.

"Something about getting anaesthetic- she said it'd help with the pain," Jenny mumbled in reply, gripping her head between her hands again for a moment. "And I am going. I won't let him throw his life away- the universe needs him."

"Sorry, what?" asked the Commander, but Jenny was already staggering towards the exit and appeared to be ignoring him.

"Are you coming to help or not?"

* * *

><p>Out in the square, Jenny knew that no amount of yelling would reach the Doctor- who was nowhere to be found- but she couldn't help but do it anyway.<p>

"Doctor?" she cried as forcefully as she could muster, but was currently finding it hard simply to stand by herself, never mind yell.

The Commander joined her from the medical tent and, for a few moments, they simply stood in silence.

"Shall I gather a squad together to go in search? You don't look like you have the strength to take another step and, if he's really as important as you say, we need to get him back alive," he muttered quietly after a few moments.

Jenny nodded dully, finding even the small amount of movement she'd performed had left her body racked with fatigue and complaint. But she would not give up- so long as she was still there, in control of her body and mind, she would do everything in her power to get her father back safely.

"Mummy..."

Jenny's head snapped back up to look around and, beside the dark water fountain some twenty feet away, three figures stood. In the natural- albeit still dark- air, they seemed to glow slightly paler than they had in the tunnel, giving them an almost ghostly appearance. One thing was for sure, though- her family were most definitely haunting her sight again.

_The creature is moving in..._ she thought to herself, doing her best to ignore the people in front of her.

Are you alright?" asked the Commander, snapping her out of her reverie. "You suddenly got much paler..."

"I don't have much time," Jenny quickly replied, tearing her eyes from her family. "Ok, I'm guessing he's gone to meet the creature and sacrifice himself or come up with some sort of deal, or something equally as stupid in order to save us all. I don't know what lies in that forest, but I'm guessing it's some sort of meeting spot or secret passage. Therefore, you get your men together and tell them to fan out across the forest area- looking for what I've just described-"

"And what're you going to do?" interrupted the Commander.

Jenny grinned. "I don't know yet, but I'm working on it. The control room of the transport system wouldn't be nearby, would it?"

Bemusedly, the Commander pointed in the direction of a small, cracked but still very much intact, building to their left.

"Cheers," Jenny nodded before, sensing the visions of her family begin to tail her, followed by another stab of pain in her head that sent her hand hurtling up to clutch at the source, she set off unsteadily towards it.

* * *

><p>The control room was like nothing Jenny had ever seen before- apart from, perhaps, the Tardis console room. As she stepped inside and closed the door, a light flickered on automatically, illuminating the thousands of buttons, screens and panels cluttering the space.<p>

Now she was finally alone, Jenny let the mask she had been feigning slip to reveal the true pain, weariness and, above all, fear playing across her gaunt features. She collapsed into a swivelling chair beside what she assumed was the main screen- her limbs beginning to occasionally twitch and thrash in spasms she didn't even attempt to stop- and became suddenly aware of the same three figures appearing behind her.

"It'd be really great if you could just let me concentrate for a bit. I won't be much longer, then you can have me, but it's just really difficult to focus as it is, without you lot breathing down my neck. Not to mention the banging headache I seem to be developing," she sighed, glancing over to the silent images of her family, before quickly turning back again.

"Mummy, I'm scared."

Jenny said nothing, just began fiddling with some broken wires under the screen in front of her. She needed to hurry if she had any hope of saving her father.

"Mummy, please, I'm scared. Hold my hand, mummy."

Jenny stopped as another stab of pain tore through her head, causing her hands to clutch at her face of their own accord. Through grunts and moans of agony- her body still jerking and twitching randomly- she turned again. Max was standing closer now, his face expressionless and his hand outstretched.

"No," Jenny growled, forcing herself to turn back to the wires and keep going.

Her hands shook, but she didn't let it deter her as, finally, with a couple of punches to the top of the screen, it flickered on to reveal what appeared to be an underground station.

"Why won't you take my hand, mummy?"

"BECAUSE YOU AREN'T REAL!" Jenny finally snapped, spinning in the chair to face her family properly as all the panic, agony, heartbreak and everything else came crashing down on her. The hurt expressions on their faces almost killed her there and then, but she had to stay strong- now more than ever. "You're dead. And, yes, that's my fault and, yes, I'll have to live with that for the rest of my life. But, I swear to god, you will _not _stop me from saving my father from the same fate that you had to suffer... I'm not afraid of you any more. In your deaths I realised how much my father means to me, and the thought of losing him scares me more than your judgement ever will. I'm sorry for what I did to you- I really am, and I will always love all three of you- but you're not the most important things in my life any more. I-"

"-Alright, I've got every spare soldier out scouring the-" The Commander stopped in the doorway, oblivious to the fact that the three shades haunting Jenny had just disappeared. "Were you just talking to yourself?"

"No..." Jenny replied darkly as he closed the the door and joined her. "But anyway! I've hacked into the CCTV cameras so what we're seeing now should be live..."

She smacked the top of the screen again just for good measure, and the image flickered to reveal a new one of the Doctor stood opposite a gigantic web of vines.

"How did you do that?" the Commander asked, impressed as he leant in to the screen. "Wait- what is _that?_"

He pointed to a huge, carnivorous looking plant resting between the vines, along with smaller, half versions around it.

"I think that's probably your pest," Jenny replied, slightly stunned. She certainly hadn't been expecting to have her soul sucked out by a _flower_.

"I know where that is- it's about forty clicks due west into the forest, then a dig of about twenty clicks straight down."

"Then get your men there and quick about it!" Jenny cried in reply. "I need to get sound on this thing so I know what it's planning. They almost always tell him their plan..." She began frantically fiddling with wires again.

"All units, this is your Commander speaking. We have a visual on the Doctor- he's forty clicks due west into the forest and about twenty clicks down. All units report to that spot- I want him out alive," the Commander instructed into a walkie-talkie of his own.

"_Affirmative,"_ came a voice a few moments later.

Jenny was beginning to struggle with the wires due to her shaking hands and, by this point, slightly blurring vision. Anger and frustration flared inside her as a steady throbbing set in inside her head, but she gritted her teeth and worked through it- determined not to be beaten.

"Come on!" she yelled after a few more minutes of tinkering, before banging the top of the screen again with her pale, tightly clenched fist.

There was a splutter of protest from the machine, then a grainy noise began to float across the room.

"_You kept your word."_

The Commander visibly shivered at the unnatural, double-timbre effect in the creature's tone. They watched silently as the Doctor huffed indignantly, taking a few steps forwards.

"_Of course I kept my word! I'm not going to just stand by and let you destroy all those lives!"_

Jenny's insides were quickly turning icy, and it wasn't totally down to the fact that she knew her father was about to do something stupid.

"_We expected you to have a plan or trick."_

"_And what makes you think I don't?" _The Doctor's sly smile seemed to glitter in the half-light, but Jenny noticed him warily glancing at what appeared to be vines with mouths.

"_You are alone."_

Everything fell into silence for a few moments then. From the look of the screen, the Doctor was deep in thought. Jenny, meanwhile, had begun glancing around the buttons and levers again, trying to form some sort of coherent plan. She knew the creature's words, on at least some level, were true- even though he had her, the Doctor still felt incredibly alone.

"_That's never stopped me before_."

Jenny grabbed a small, wired microphone she saw to her right, still half listening. She was sure there was something useful she could do with it, but she was becoming very light-headed and her concentration levels were quickly diminishing as a result.

"_But your compassion, amongst other things, proceeds you, Doctor. You will let your essence die because you cannot stand to see your child suffer and cry."_

Jenny stopped again, unwillingly turning back to watch the screen. The Commander glanced warily at her, but she didn't notice. Was this really her fault? Had she driven him to this? These thoughts only made her more determined to help him.

"_That's very true,"_ the Doctor whispered, nodding. _"But if I have to die, I at least want to know why. What's so special about me? Why would you give up hundreds of souls in exchange for mine? There has to be a reason."_

So it _was_ her fault. And now her father was prepared to hand his soul over in exchange for hers. He might not have realised the reason why they wanted him, but she certainly did. He had perhaps the most brilliant, inspiring, ancient and schizophrenic mind and soul of anyone she knew- that was a lot of potential energy for the creature to use. But for what exactly? Jenny realised she had lost concentration of the screen again, so quickly turned back.

"_...We could feed on you forever, becoming infinitely strong and powerful."_

And then she realised that was exactly what they planned to do. She glanced over to the Commander, now seated beside her, whilst she began absent-mindedly scratching at the pain in the back of her head. A plan was slowly, hazily, beginning to settle inside her, along with an empty, calm sensation in her stomach. She knew exactly what to do. But dare she do it?

"Ok, I have a plan," she sighed after a moment, having made her choice. "You give me your walkie-talkie and go join your men. I assume you have some explosives lying about somewhere- you're soldiers after all- so take some with you. Enough to blow straight through into the tunnel. Get two volunteers ready to go down and pull the Doctor back out when I give you the signal. They'll have to be strong- I don't think he'll come quietly-"

"And what are you going to do? If we save him, you're still going to hypothetically die- there's no other way around it, is there?"

"No," Jenny agreed softly, "there's not. But I have a plan that could still save the Doctor and all the others."

"But not you?"

"Probably not." Jenny sighed and covered her face with her hands for a few moments. "Just try to keep hold of him for as long as possible, please. He'll work out what I'm going to do sooner or later, and if he gets to me before I get it done, he'll find a way to stop me."

Jenny was fully aware the Commander was confused, but she was thankful that he just seemed to accept her half plan. She really didn't have the strength to go into any more detail- her limbs were beginning to feel very heavy and her head was fuzzy.

"Ok, be safe," the Commander instructed, handing over his walkie-talkie.

As he held it out to Jenny and she took it in both hands, his other hand rested on hers and their eyes locked. A silent, mutual understanding passed between them and the irony in the Commander's words hung in the air. They both knew this would probably be the last time they saw each other.

"I will," Jenny lied anyway, just to make things easier for him.

They shook hands and then he was gone, sprinting off through the door and towards the forest, leaving Jenny alone again. Sighing, she turned back to the screen and held the other, wired microphone tightly in her hand.

"_And now, Doctor, enough time has been wasted. Your death is eminent." _

And, to Jenny's horror, vines began creeping up the Doctor's body. Perhaps even worse, however, was the fact that he did nothing to stop it. He was resolved to the fact that he had to die. Oh, he was not going to be happy with her for screwing that up...

Hoping with all her heart that the Commander was in position (or at least close to), Jenny brought the wired microphone up to her mouth, took a deep breath, and said, "Would the Doctor please make his way to the surface? We have an angry child here waiting for him, and she's expecting one _hell_ of an explanation."

Between all the adrenaline, pain and discomfort coursing through her body, a chuckle of humour somehow managed to escape her her lips as the Doctor's eyes whipped open on the screen and he glanced over to the speakers on the opposite wall, a look of confused horror spreading across his face.

"Once again, that's the Doctor to the surface." She raised the Commander's walkie-talkie and, with both now in range, yelled, "Now!"

The rumble of a distant explosion reached her ears. It had begun.

_**R&R? Hope you enjoyed :D Next chapter soon, hopefully :) **_


	10. Chapter 10

As the smoke from the explosion cleared and the surrounding trees stopped shaking around where the Commander stood, pandemonium soon ensued throughout the clearing. Vines shot up through the hole freshly made and through pre existing cracks in the ground; the mouths planted on the end of each one began latching onto any part of any soldier they could find. Men and women ran around, screaming and waving guns in the air, trying to escape the Jalvoltri's murderous tentacles. For those who were unfortunate enough to have a vine seize them within its crushing grip, they went immediately limp and silent before being dropped back to the floor where they would lay motionless- their souls fast-tracked from their bodies.

Perhaps even worse than the mass slaughter happening right before the Commander's eyes, however, were the screams and profanities coming from the Doctor's mouth as he was literally carried away from the hole, struggling with every ounce of his strength, by five muscular soldiers.

"Let. Me. Go! Don't you understand that I can still save them all if I give up my soul? I can save Jenny-"

"This whole operation was her idea," the Commander interrupted the Doctor's yells as he was placed in front of him, and he fell immediately silent for a few moments.

"But why would she do that? How could she _possibly_ have known what I was planning?" he asked quietly, suddenly deep in thought.

"She's a very clever girl, your daughter. She managed to get a CCTV system that's been broken for twenty years fixed in five minutes. We heard your entire conversation."

"But that still doesn't make sense!" the Doctor snapped. "She knows as well as I do that letting one person die is better than hundreds."

"Well she seemed to be under that impression, yes," the Commander replied darkly.

"Then I don't understand what she's-" The Doctor stopped, his face turning the colour of fresh snow as the Commander's words and all their possible meanings sunk in. "Oh, please, _please _tell me she's not planning what I think she's planning?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," the Commander muttered evasively. "All I know is that you're much more important than you let on, and I'm to keep you alive."

"Where is she?" the Doctor snarled, taking a step forwards so his face was mere millimetres from the Commander's. "I swear to god, if I find her dead then I'm holding you personally responsible. Why would you take orders from a child?"

"Except she's not a child, is she?" the Commander asked calmly, not phased by the Doctor's sudden fiery anger. "That girl might look young, but her childhood died a long time ago, didn't it? It wouldn't surprise me if she never even had one."

The Doctor growled in frustration, but had no reply. The Commander was right- Jenny wasn't a child- but that didn't mean that she wasn't his little girl.

"I want to see her. Maybe I can talk her out of whatever she's planning."

The Doctor moved as if to leave, but the Commander caught him by the arm and held firm before he had the chance to get far.

"Woah- I'm afraid I can't let you leave. She warned me you might try to stop her, and I'm to make sure that doesn't happen."

"Are you kidding me? Let me go and see my daughter!" the Doctor roared, trying to pull away from the Commander.

The men scuffled for a few moments, throwing badly aimed punches and kicks at each other, until the Commander finally tripped over a stray vine and went flying- the Doctor slipping out of his grip. He yelled victoriously, before sprinting off through the trees and back towards the village.

* * *

><p>Jenny was ready. Everything was in place and her father was in safe hands, so now all she had to do was go through with her plan. Sighing heavily as she glanced around the control room one more time, she pulled herself to her feet and, wobbling due to the pitiful state she was now in, she headed for the door and stepped outside.<p>

Dawn was on the horizon as she traipsed into the eerily silent square. Any soldiers that had been scuttling around before were now gone, leaving the place deserted. That being said, two suns were just beginning to rise in the east and west- the perfect time to die.

Willing her body not to give out on her just when she needed it most, she moved unsteadily over to the tent with the well hidden inside it for what she knew would be the final time.

"Jenny!"

"Shit."

The word escaped her lips before she could stop it, and she span on her heel so quickly that she had to grip the canvas of the tent to stop herself from losing balance. To her horror, she spotted the Doctor sprinting towards her on lanky legs from out of the trees. This couldn't happen- she couldn't let him mess this up- so, ignoring his approaching pleas, Jenny turned again and entered the tent.

Inside, she immediately got to work shakily tying the rope attached to the yellow machine around her waist.

"Jenny, what're you doing? Stop this!"

It was too late- the Doctor had caught up. He appeared quickly through the flaps, wide eyed, out of breath and thoroughly confused. Jenny went as if to throw herself down the well shaft, but he caught her right arm before she could.

"Jenny, aren't you listening to me? Stop!" he cried, a pleading that Jenny had never heard from him thick in his voice.

"Let me go," Jenny replied calmly, though panic and horror were screaming inside her. She had to think of a way to make him let go- to allow her to do this.

"No! What do you think you're doing?" the Doctor asked incredulously, shaking her gently as if to knock some sense into her. "Why would you throw yourself back down there?"

"The train," Jenny countered quietly, looking her father in the eyes for the first time in hours. "There was a cargo train filled with tonnes of explosives in the tunnel. It'd lead right into the creature's lair. If I could just-"

"Jenny, no!" The Doctor's eyes widened in understanding. "I won't let you do it. It's too dangerous- you'd get yourself killed! For once in your life why won't you just act your age and realise you're being foolish!"

"I'm four hundred and twelve years old! If I acted my age I'd have to die, and that's exactly what I plan to do, as it happens," she retorted patiently, waiting for him to catch on. He did eventually, and when he did his whole body seemed to droop with a sudden sadness.

"I can't let you," he murmured, "I can't lose you again."

Jenny took a deep, rattling breath, knowing that he wouldn't listen to her excuses or begging any longer. She had known that it would come to this in the end, but she had hoped with everything she had left that it wouldn't. Oh, he was really going to hate her for this.

"For the last time, you didn't lose me!" she bellowed, taking him utterly by surprise. "You left me on my own after _promising _that you would take me with you. You made me feel special and then you just tossed me aside like I was a broken toy! But you do that with all your companions, don't you? You make them feel invincible when, in reality, they are never more vulnerable than when they're with you! You play them like puppets then lead them to their deaths, and because they trust you with every fibre of their beings they will willingly go with you without a seconds thought... And you wander around the universe, complaining about being the last of your kind and how lonely you are, but you're the one that drives people away, Doctor! You are the single most selfish, arrogant, unthoughtful man I have ever met, but what makes it worse is that you go prancing about masquerading as a hero. Well how many billions have you killed? How much blood do you have on your hands? How many friends, relatives, innocent people are dead because of you?"

The Doctor was still, his whole body quaking with silent sobs. His grip had loosened on Jenny's arm, but not enough for her to pull away. She had to keep going.

"You're the reason why Rose is trapped in an alternate universe. You drove Martha away. It's your fault that Jack can't die and Donna can't even remember you, and it's certainly your fault that Melody Pond was taken from Amy and Rory. Where is your wife, by the way? Oh, that's right- she's in prison, serving time for a crime she didn't even commit! You tricked her, Doctor. You manipulated her just like you did Ace, Sarah Jane, Leela- all of them! Just like you have me. Well no more- I'm taking a stand. Because, for once in my life, I know deep in my hearts that what I'm doing is right. The Tardis brought us here for a reason, I'm sure of it, and I'm _certain _it was so I could do this. I'm dying anyway, and who knows? I might regenerate this way."

"But... but how do you know that, by destroying the Jalvoltri, everyone will get their souls back?" the Doctor asked meekly.

"I don't. But, even if they don't, at least it can't hurt anyone else. I heard what it said, dad. If you hand yourself over it'll spread out and take over the entire universe. I can't let that happen. Whether you like it or not, the universe needs you. Now let. Me. Go." Her voice was much calmer and quieter now, knowing by the look in her father's eyes that she had completely broken him in just those few words.

Reluctantly, he prised his fingers from her arm and his hand dropped to his side. Jenny staggered slightly now his support was gone, but she refused to look weak in front of him and so, climbing to sit on the rim of the well, she turned to him and instructed, "Go to the control room. It's important."

And, with that, she jumped and was immediately lost from sight as the rope began to roll out into the well.

* * *

><p>The Doctor didn't know what he expected to find in the control room that could possibly be of any importance to him now, but he wanted to honour Jenny's final wish and so, heartbroken and dejected, he trudged back through the square towards the small building some thirty metres away.<p>

Upon first glance once inside the multicolour-buttoned room, there appeared to be nothing of profound interest there. Just as he was about to turn back to the door, however, the Doctor spotted a scrap of paper taped to the back of a chair. Curiosity breaking through his overwhelming sense of grief and despair, he wandered over and took the note. It was addressed to him on one side and, on the other, read:

_If you're reading this then that means that my plan has worked, or is about to work. If that's the case, I honestly don't know how I managed to make you see sense, but I imagine it must have been quite unpleasant for you and so, for that, I'm sorry. I know you might not believe me when I say this, but it isn't your fault. It really isn't. I've never been more at peace than the moment I realised what I had to do and, if you never do another thing for me, please don't beat yourself up over this and don't do anything stupid. _

_Know that I'll always love you, and am proud to call you my father and, if I don't regenerate, I'm a better person for having known you. Love you dad – Jenny._

_P.s. I figured you might have something to say, so I've left you a spare walkie-talkie. I have the other. If you can't or don't want to, that's fine. x_

The Doctor looked up, blinking tears out of his already red, sore eyes, and glanced around the room again. Just as she had said, a walkie-talkie had been left on top of a black screen, and attached to it was another note.

Clutching the one he was already holding close to his chest, the Doctor reached out with his other hand and took the note. This one simply read:

_Nice, calming words welcome. Whining about my decision is not. _

Chuckling to himself despite the tears that had begun to fall, the Doctor placed his notes on top of the screen and took the walkie-talkie in his hand. He paused for a moment when it was by his mouth. What could he possibly have to say? How could he possibly convey the deep, complex adoration he had for his child, and the gaping hole she had left in his hearts as soon as she'd disappeared down that well shaft, in a few, calming words? He knew, though, from the second note that, although she would never come straight out and say it, Jenny needed him to give her the strength to do this, even though he didn't want her to. She needed to know that he would be alright after she was gone.

Even though she was faced with her end, she was thinking of others. No matter how hard he tried, the Doctor would never be as selfless and compassionate as his daughter, and that's what killed him about the whole situation. He deserved to die a million times over before she did, and yet here she was, sacrificing her life for others.

But, although that thought caused the Doctor an agony he didn't think actually possible, he somehow managed to draw a strength from it as well. If Jenny could show this much resilience and courage whilst facing her end, he should at least try to do the same for her.

He pulled the walkie-talkie back up to his dry lips and took a deep breath, willing his voice to be strong.

"Jenny?"

* * *

><p>Jenny cried, no, sobbed as she made her way down the well shaft and into the tunnel. She was horrified at having to leave things with the Doctor like that, and she didn't want her last words to be hateful and full of blame. That's why, as she hit the tunnel floor, unravelled the rope from her waist and pulled a torch from her pocket, she hoped with both her hearts that he had done as she'd told him to and found her notes.<p>

On an upside, however, she found that, now she knew exactly what had to be done, a great weight had been lifted from her shoulders and she felt stronger.

Wasting no time, she pulled herself up through the broken window of the train after crossing the short distance between them and, shining her torch onto a number of levers and switches, she pressed a button which switched lights on throughout the vehicle.

She took a deep breath, and was just about to flip the ignition switch when she paused. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw three very familiar figures appear behind her. _Oh god, not now. _

"What're you doing?" Tom asked disgustedly, taking a step towards her. Any inner strength she had managed to draw upon evaporated immediately as she turned to face her family.

"I'm finally doing the right thing," Jenny replied much more bravely than she felt.

"No you're not. You're being cowardly and selfish again. You'd rather take yourself out of the world than have to be left alone to grieve your father's death. Well, how is he going to feel having to grieve yours? Did you even stop to think? No, because you'd rather take yourself out of a challenging situation than stay to fight through it. You're a disgrace."

Jenny stood still, her hand still hovering over the ignition switch, and a small spark of doubt burned in the back of her mind, causing her sight to blur and her limbs to shake again. She fought it with every last ounce of strength she had left in her body, but it wouldn't last much longer.

"_Jenny?"_

At first she thought she must have been imagining it- she really hadn't expected to hear his soothing voice again- but, after hearing the Doctor call her name once more, her hands flew to the walkie-talkie attached to her waistband and brought it to her mouth.

"Dad? I'm here."

She was aware of just how weak and tired she sounded, but she really didn't care. In that moment what she needed, more than anything, was to hear his encouraging voice.

"_Jenny, I... I won't say that I think what you're doing is right, because I don't. But... I can understand why. I'm sorry for what I've put you through-"_

"-Dad, I-"

"_-No, please, let me finish. I'm sorry for what I've put you through, but that only makes me prouder that you're still so selfless, honest and courageous. And if this is really what you feel you need to do, I won't stop you. Just know that, no matter what, I... I-"_

"-Dad, you don't have to say it- I know," Jenny replied softly, knowing how difficult those three, simple words were for him to say.

"_No, no, I can do this!"_ he snapped, choking back what she thought was a sob. _"Jenny... I love you."_

Jenny paused for a moment, in awe of the fact that he had actually said it, then, as tears began to roll down her face, she whispered, "I love you too, dad."

And, with that, the walkie-talkie clattered to the floor as Jenny let it go- the Doctor's words giving her another burst of strength- and, using both hands, slammed the ignition switch on. With a jolt, the train began to move and pick up speed.

Jenny turned back to her family, grinning. "You aren't real. You're just the creature inside my head, and my guess is that you know what's coming. Well here this- you will never harm another person ever again so long as I'm still breathing. And by the time that I stop, you will have too."

But, inexplicably, over the rattling of the train, the sound of the wind rushing though the smashed window and the pounding in Jenny's head, an ear-shattering shriek filled the air as huge, mouthed vines appeared from nowhere and began coiling tightly around Jenny. She yelled and began to panic- flailing and pulling at the vines, to no prevail. From behind her, she heard the maniacal laughter of Tom, Hugo and Max, but they no longer worried her in the slightest.

A sudden pain erupted from her chest as she realised a vine had latched onto the skin above her left heart. Darkness was beginning to cloud the edge of her vision and she vaguely felt herself falling to her knees but, as vines continued to constrict and squeeze the life from her, all she felt was an ever growing numbness.

Her last thought as she succumbed to the darkness was of her father, and how she hoped with everything she was that the image of her dead husband had been wrong about him.

_**A/N: I'm thinking only two or three more chapters at the most now guys. Hope you've been enjoying it though! R&R? :) **_


	11. Chapter 11

The Doctor found that he was already sprinting back through the forest and towards the clearing when the explosion tore through the air. He couldn't quite remember at what point he had left the control room, but didn't have time to dwell on it as the very earth around him began to rock and quake as, up ahead, a gigantic mushroom cloud of fire, debris, ash and dust shot into the sky.

A wall of heat hit him head first as, dodging the now falling trees as well, the Doctor continued across the shaking ground. He knew he was being foolish- there was simply no way anyone could possibly have survived being at the epicentre of such an explosion- but there was still a deep, parental instinct he didn't even know he possessed driving him forwards, and he knew he wouldn't be able to stop until he knew, one way or another, whether Jenny was dead.

If he was being truly honest with himself, though, he didn't truly know what he would do if she was. Jenny was his reason to keep living- his inspiration for being a better person- and without her he would have to resort back to being the last, lonely Time Lord. That couldn't happen.

Hurdling a fallen tree trunk with ease, the Doctor finally made it to the, now, destroyed clearing. Any trees in the surrounding area had been torched by the mushroom cloud as it burst from the already created hole that, less than an hour ago, the Commander and his men had pulled him from. It felt like an eternity since then now.

The hole itself seemed to have crumbled at the edges, making it bigger, but a number of trees had collapsed over it (presumably during the explosion), making it impossible to get through to the underground. It was actually surprising that the tunnel was still standing at all, never mind its roof being able to withstand numerous heavy tree trunks laying across it without collapsing under the weight.

The secret entrance, however, had suffered a far worse fate. The rock shaped like Gandhi's face hiding the entrance from view was completely gone and the whole thing seemed to have folded in on itself, making it impossible to get down.

"Jenny?" the Doctor screeched as soldiers staggered about, beginning to attempt to move some of the trees out of the way.

He made as if to race forwards and try to help, but felt strong hands grip his shoulders from behind and hold him in place.

"Doctor, I'm so sorry for your loss."

The Doctor whipped around and came face to face with a bloodied, dazed, slightly singed Commander.

"Don't say that. People only say that when somebody's dead. Well you don't know that Jenny is dead. You don't know. When they shift those trees they're going to pull her, very much alive and well, from the wreckage," the Doctor rambled at top speed, seemingly trying to convince himself more than anyone else.

The Commander surveyed him kindly, before resting a reassuring hand on the Doctor's shoulder. "I know this must be hard for you, but there's simply no way she could have survived being at the centre of that- it would have toasted her alive. You're just going to have to prepare for them pulling a body, or what's left of-"

"No, nope, Jenny's stronger than that. She's too much like me- she can regenerate, she told me so. She might come out a different person, but she's coming out alive. She has to." The Doctor began to shake at the mere thought of the alternative. "I need to be there when they find her."

And so, shrugging the Commander's hand off his shoulder, the Doctor turned and stepped back over towards the, still, tree covered hole, all the time, in his heart of hearts, hoping that what he had told the Commander was true. He was beginning to have doubts anyway- even if she did regenerate, would she still be the same person? Would she still be as selfless, witty and kind? Would their relationship ever be the same?

But what was the alternative- death? The Doctor couldn't even stomach the idea that the Commander could be right- that they'd pull a charcoaled corpse from the wreckage and he'd never again hear the sound of his daughter's laughter, or watch her eyes begin to sparkle at the promise of adventure.

The smell of freshly turned earth filled the Doctor's nose and he suddenly realised he was on the floor, curled into a foetal position. When had that happened? He found, though, that when he tried to get up he simply couldn't; a pain was spreading through his whole body from where he assumed his hearts should be, but that didn't make any sense- his hearts were broken. He then noticed something wet on his cheek, and when he reached up with a shaking hand to touch the source, he realised it was tears. Was he crying?

"Come on sunshine, up you get," the Commander sighed gently from above the, by now, utterly defeated shadow of a man, having moved towards him as he saw him fall. He helped the somewhat limp Doctor to his feet and gripped him tightly around the waist, steering him to an abandoned tree stump. "Here we are- just sit down here for a while until you've calmed down a bit."

The Doctor didn't respond as he sat atop the stump, simply looked vacant. Not a good sign. The Commander was just about to call for some medical help when a yell cut him off.

"Commander? We've found something!"

The Doctor was already sprinting off towards the source of the utterance before the words had even registered with the Commander, but once they had he took off after him towards the tree covered hole- except now a couple of them had been moved enough to fit a grown man through, and someone was, indeed, hauling something large and oddly shaped through.

"Jenny?"

It became obvious as the shape was pulled from the depths of the underground, however, that it wasn't a person, but still the men ran until they skidded to a stop beside it.

"What is it?" the Commander asked while the Doctor waved his sonic screwdriver manically up and down across its surface.

"I saw these before, while I was down there. You told us before that any soldiers who had been down there in the past didn't come back up again- well I think the creature was storing them up in these for later use. Apparently they're flame proof..."

"You mean there's a person in there?" the Commander almost choked, pointing incredulously to the mess of tightly wrapped vines in front of him.

"Yes." A sigh.

"Then how do we get them out? Are they still alive?" the Commander quizzed hurriedly, bending down beside the already kneeling Doctor.

"If Jenny's hypothesis is right, they should still be alive, yes. And, now I assume the creature is dead, it should only take..."

The Doctor didn't finish his sentence, simply reached out and tugged at one of the many nondescript vines and, after a few moments, the whole makeshift sack disintegrated into dust, leaving a very pale, very dirty, but very much alive young man of no older than sixteen years old laid before them.

The Commander let a cry of joy escape his lips as the boy took a deep, steadying breath, before opening his eyes and staring around. Not even the Doctor could stop himself from grinning.

"Where am I?" asked the boy, blinking dumbly up at the two men leaning over him.

"You're safe. You've been through quite an ordeal," the Commander replied gently as the Doctor scanned the boy with the sonic once more.

"Two broken ribs and a fractured ankle but, considering the sheer size and power of the explosion, he's been incredibly lucky. Whatever those vines are made of, they're amazingly strong," he replied once he had finished his scan, noting the results on the side of his beloved screwdriver. "Obviously they're designed to keep anything from trying to break the victims free, but somehow still manage to get sustenance to the bodies in order to keep them alive. Quite ingenious if you really think about it."

"Yes, quite," the Commander sighed, less than impressed at the Doctor's sudden fascination with the flora. Was this some form of new coping mechanism- focusing on the positives belonging to the creature that had killed his child? He didn't know.

"Commander? We think we've found her!"

The Doctor's head snapped up faster than was surely possible as his blood turned cold, bracing himself as the Commander strode purposefully over to the gap in the fallen trees. There was silence and stillness for a few moments, then something small, red and black hurtled through the exposed hole and landed by the startled Commander's feet.

Looking down, the Doctor recognised what it was immediately and bile rose in his throat as a result. Resting on the floor, and almost completely melted, was a single Converse shoe. Jenny's shoe.

"Doctor! They have her! Quickly!" the Commander yelled, now atop one of the fallen trees in his attempt to help pull Jenny from out of the dark gap between the tree he stood on and the one opposite.

The Doctor pulled himself to his feet and, trying to clear his unusually dry throat by swallowing heavily, he ghosted unsteadily over to where the Commander stood. He had never been more uncertain or terrified by anything in his entire life, and he honestly didn't know what to do with himself. The equally tragic and absurd nature of the whole situation was almost too much for him to take.

"I see her!" the Commander cried, reaching down into the dark in order to pull Jenny free. His face fell once his eyes latched onto her. "Doctor, maybe it's best you not-"

"-What? What is it- what's wrong with her?" The Doctor finally found his voice and moved forwards as, slightly reluctantly, the Commander took Jenny from the outstretched arms of the soldier in the tunnel below.

The sight that met the Doctor's eyes took all the air and strength from his body, and it was all he could do to keep from collapsing to his knees.

Jenny was lying completely still in the Commander's strong arms, half covered by the same vines that had covered the boy now being led away by a medical officer. There was something distinctly wrong with the image of Jenny compared with the young man, though. The vines hadn't completely covered her body, as though she had put up a fight or there hadn't been enough time and/or space to do it properly, and so the protruding patches of flesh visible underneath were hideously burnt and bloody. But the Doctor could tell by the overall size and shape that Jenny was still in the same body. Why had she not regenerated?

He found he simply had no words important enough to convey what he was feeling as the Commander climbed slowly from atop the tree trunk and laid Jenny by the Doctor's feet, so he stayed silent as he crouched beside her and tugged on one of the vines. Just as before, the makeshift cocoon disintegrated into dust once touched, leaving, if possible, an even more devastating sight in front of him.

Jenny's eyes were closed and the gentle rise and fall of her chest was gone. Patches of her clothes had been completely burnt away, as well as patches of her hair, leaving splatters of burnt, bright red and even black skin all over her body. The small, resilient end of a vine was still latched onto the left side of her chest and had refused to disintegrate with the rest. Gently, the Doctor reached out with a surprisingly steady hand and felt for a pulse. Nothing.

"She's gone," he whispered, silent tears flooding his face. He didn't even attempt to stop them. "She can't be gone!"

His fists came down on her chest in a sudden fit of anger, almost as though he thought he could beat some life back into her.

The Commander didn't know what to do. He was certain the Doctor needed a moment alone in order to compose himself, but he was loath to leave the man for fear of what he might do either to himself or the body of his child in a fit of emotion, so he stayed put.

The Doctor brought his fists back down onto Jenny's chest again before the Commander had a chance to stop him, knocking the stray bit of vine askew in the process, and suddenly froze as the seemingly lifeless corpse in front of him exhaled.

He looked up at the Commander, eyes wide. "Did you see that?"

"See what?" replied the Commander, slightly worried by the crazed look in the other man's eyes.

The Doctor turned back to Jenny, watching closely for signs of life. He was sure she had taken a breath- certain of it.

"She just breathed out. I'm sure she did."

The Commander's face turned instantaneously sympathetic. "Doctor, she has no pulse. You said so yourself- she's gone. How can she be breathing if she's dead?"

"Maybe I diagnosed her wrong! Contrary to popular belief, I'm not actually a medical doctor!" the Doctor snapped in reply, leaning over to place his ear to his daughter's hearts. Still nothing. Damn it, he was so sure she had taken a breath!

"Anything?" the Commander asked not unkindly, but more hopefully.

The Doctor shook his head silently, now placing his hand over where her hearts should be, and in the process knocked the vine again. This time the corpse inhaled loud enough to make both men jump.

"Did you see it this time?" the Doctor squealed excitedly, kneeling up to get a better look at Jenny.

"Yes, I did," the Commander retorted, in shock. "But she isn't breathing now..."

He was right. As the Doctor watched the rise and fall of her chest stopped again, leaving the body, once again, motionless.

"It's whenever I move the vine," he realised in a small voice after a few moments of silence.

"What?" the Commander quizzed bemusedly.

"She starts breathing whenever I touch or jiggle the vine around," the Doctor explained, reaching out to pull it off.

Would it really work? Could it really be that simple? It was quite possible that the vines had protected Jenny enough from the explosion to save her from regenerating, but why had it stopped her hearts? Was there something wrong with her? There was only one way to find out.

The Doctor gripped the vine tightly in one hand and, inhaling sharply, he tugged it from Jenny's chest. For a moment both men braced themselves, expecting the worst. Nothing happened. Then, just as they lowered their guards again, Jenny suddenly lurched up, taking a huge breath with wide eyes roaming over the surrounding area, before gripping onto the startled Doctor's jacket for dear life and burying her head against his chest.

"Oh God, Jenny, you're alright, I promise you you're safe now. I thought you were dead- I didn't know what to do-" the Doctor rambled into his daughter's hair as he cradled her quaking, sobbing body tightly in his arms.

"-I wasn't dead! I wasn't dead," Jenny cried hysterically. "They don't take your soul at all! They stop your body on purpose so they can feed on the memory power in your brain! But, in the process, your whole life flashes before your eyes and, no surprises, the bad memories create the most power. I was conscious the entire time, I just couldn't move!"

"What?" The Doctor didn't understand. Was she delirious?

"I don't know how, but they must have put my body under a time lock or something, so I couldn't move, but in here I was totally conscious- they all are."

Jenny tapped the side of her head as she spoke, and the Doctor finally understood. Gazing upon his quivering, silently sobbing daughter, he couldn't even begin to imagine the horrors she must have been shown and the terror she must have felt whilst imprisoned in her own body, unable to fight against it. If what she said about the time lock was true, however, then this was very far from over and Jenny was still very far from being alright. He looked into her eyes and saw her soul screaming back at him, asking him to help her. By removing the vine he had removed whatever it was that was stopping her from moving, but that didn't mean that the terrifying memories from her past weren't still flashing before her eyes, even though the Jalvoltri was dead. The other victims would be alright even though the lock hadn't been completely lifted- they hadn't experienced what Jenny had in her long lifetime- but the shaking girl in front of him was another matter.

"You know what you have to do," she whispered sincerely.

The Doctor did know what he had to do, but he didn't want to do it.

"Are you sure it's a time lock? You know I can't bring you back if it isn't," he told her seriously, glancing around. The Commander had joined his men at the other side of the clearing.

"I'm certain. But I want it to be you."

The Doctor sighed heavily, before nodding once and getting to his feet. Eyeing a gun hanging from its holster around the Commander's waist, he strode across the clearing and, before anyone knew what he was doing, he took it and turned back to Jenny. She was now on her feet, arms spread wide in an attempt to make it an easier shot.

"Doctor, what the hell are you doing?" the Commander yelled as he realised his gun had been taken, watching in shock as the Doctor pointed it at his child.

The first shot was enough to lift her off her feet and leave her in a crumpled heap on the floor. As wisps of golden light began to leak from her body, however, the Doctor took a deep breath in order to steady his shaking hand and, repositioning his aim, he shot again. This time a white light filled the clearing as Jenny's body appeared to burst into atoms before everyone's eyes.


	12. Chapter 12

_**A/N: Seeing how the last chapter was such a long time coming, I thought I'd update pretty quickly with this one to make up for it. Enjoy! :)**_

When the forest had finally cleared of the blinding white light and everyone had begun to regain their senses, the Doctor and Jenny were long gone. The Time Lord had taken his chance as the time lock crushing his daughter's soul exploded from her to scoop the limp body up in his arms and run for the Tardis.

Blood leaked from Jenny's body in a steady stream and she was deathly pale and still- unlike before, this time he was certain she was dead- but the Doctor had aimed impeccably. His first shot had hit her in the abdomen, initiating the regeneration process, and the second entered her chest just above her right heart- killing her instantly, and in the process destroying the time lock surrounding her. The important thing was that her vital organs were still intact and there was still a chance he could save her. All he had to do was get her into the Tardis, seal her wounds and find a way to resuscitate her… Easy.

He broke through the last line of trees and sprinted as fast as he could, with the small body still strewn across his arms, towards the Tardis located across the village square. As if sensing that he needed help and not hindrance, the Tardis doors swung open of their own accord as he neared the blue box and so, becoming increasingly out of breath thanks to Jenny's dead weight, he threw himself over the threshold and up the steps to the main console, before taking a speedy left and jumping up another flight of steps in order to find the medical bay.

It didn't take him long. The Tardis, very kindly, had jiggled the layout around meaning that the medical bay was in the first room that he peered in to. Sighing with relief and gratitude, the Doctor kicked the door fully open and carried Jenny over to the closest bed, before gently laying her down. He paused for a moment to stroke stray strands of hair out of her face, heartbreakingly aware that this was the first time he had seen her look so peaceful, before spinning on his heel to face a number of drawers situated opposite him. He knew exactly what he needed, but wasn't sure where he had left it, so began rummaging through whatever was closest to him.

The Tardis consciousness let out a questioning hum, almost as if to ask if he needed help. The old girl had grown incredibly fond of Jenny over the months since they had been reunited, and the Doctor knew she was just as anxious to make sure she was alright as he was. Jenny was a part of the Doctor, after all.

"Where's the Zuzahbah tree sap, Sexy?" he asked urgently, aiming his question in no particular direction.

He knew that this particular tree sap, found exclusively in the ice forests of the planet Schark-41, was the only thing powerful enough to heal Jenny's wounds. He and Jenny had been given it as a gift a few weeks back after they had rescued the king's wife from the clutches of an evil sorcerer and, the Doctor being the Doctor, he had never thought he would have use for it, so he had tossed it in a random empty drawer for safe keeping. Too safe, apparently, now he looked back in hindsight.

He heard a metal drawer to his left slide open and he was immediately sprinting to it, becoming very aware of just how little time he had left. If Jenny's brain didn't get blood and oxygen to it soon, the damage would be too great for him to bring her back. At least, bring her back properly.

Scooping a small pot of electric blue paste out of the bottom of the drawer, he was back at Jenny's side in seconds with the lid off and a large dollop settling on his fingers. Throwing caution to the metaphorical wind, he smeared the sap across Jenny's still bleeding wounds, starting with her chest, then her abdomen, before moving onto the smaller burns and gashes she had obtained earlier. He just hoped it would be enough.

Leaving no time to check, however, he was back across the room in a few strides, grabbing at some CPR equipment and pulling it back over to Jenny, by the wires, behind him. A quick glance at her rapidly shrinking gunshot and burn wounds told him the sap was working.

"Come on Jenny- I know you can do this," he told her corpse firmly as he began to charge the paddles. "Sorry about this…"

He reached over and undid the buttons of her blood-stained shirt, before averting his eyes and pulling the, now, fully charged paddles towards him.

"Clear!"

He had no idea who he was yelling at- the Tardis would be his excuse- as he pressed the paddles to Jenny's chest and let the electricity flow through her. Her body rocketed upwards upon contact with the paddles, but she remained distressingly limp and lifeless as she slammed back onto the bed again.

"No, no, Jenny- come on!" the Doctor cried, placing the paddles back to recharge and pulling his sonic screwdriver from inside his jacket.

He pointed it at the machine and pressed the button, causing the force of energy racing through the paddles to rise.

"Clear!" he yelled hysterically again, pushing the paddles back down onto Jenny's chest and allowing the electricity to flow through her body again.

Once again, apart from the forced animation to her limbs, Jenny remained totally lifeless as she fell back onto the bed. Her hair was now tousled and the placement of her fallen limbs made it impossible to imagine she was simply even sleeping. Her wounds had healed, but that wasn't enough- there was simply no life left in her.

"No, come on, come on," he muttered, reaching out and beginning manual compressions with his hands- starting with one side of her chest then switching to the other.

He would not allow tears to fall again and, if he was being honest, none were threatening to. He realised it was the uncertainty that had caused it last time, but all he felt now was a numbness spreading through his body.

After he had performed the compressions on both hearts and had still received no response from Jenny, despair began to set in as he leant forwards, clamping her nose shut with his hand, and pressed his lips to hers- passing air straight from his body to hers. He noticed how dry and cracked her lips were, as though all the moisture was leaving her body as well, but ignored it and found himself inhaling heavily, before blowing a second lungful of air into her body.

When even this didn't work, the Doctor collapsed onto Jenny's chest- physically and mentally exhausted- and honestly didn't know what else to do. She had trusted that he would bring her back and, once again, he had broken that trust and led her to her death- just like so many of the others. Her words before stepping down into that tunnel for the second time had been truer than he'd ever feared. And, by letting her make her own decision, it had ironically led to the same result. So why did that make him feel even more guilty? Why did that send an even bigger shot of self-loathing through his veins?

"I am so, so sorry," he whispered, dropping into a chair beside the bed and beginning to gently stroke Jenny's hair and cheeks again. She looked so young and fragile in death. "I'm sorry I've been such a disappointment."

As he was so caught up in his own (dreadfully ironically) soul crushing despair, the Doctor didn't immediately hear the sing-song voice calling out to him.

"_Doctorrrr…"_

He looked up quickly as he finally heard it. Ribbons of golden light, not unlike regeneration energy, floated in the doorway, before disappearing off down the corridor.

"_Follow me, Doctor…"_

Now fully alert, the Doctor realised the voice was coming from inside his mind, and in Galifreyan, no less. He got to his feet, intrigue slowly beginning to outweigh the despair, and was just about to tear off after the light when the voice stopped him again.

"_Bring the child, Doctor."_

Suddenly very wary, the Doctor glanced back over at Jenny. She looked so at peace- he didn't want to ruin that after everything else he had done to her- but he had the strangest feeling that the Tardis herself was behind this, so he carefully scooped his daughter up in his arms again. Who else could possibly be speaking in Galifreyan inside his mind but the Tardis, anyway?

Stepping out into the corridor, the Doctor spotted the band of golden light again and followed it into the console room. It was unlike anything he had ever seen before, and that was certainly saying something. The central column was blaring out an almost blinding amount of golden light which, up close, looked more like particles, and the whole room was slowly filling with the stuff, as well as a deep, monotonic, almost thoughtful hum that seemed to be radiating around the place.

"_Do not be afraid, thief."_

Yes- definitely the Tardis' doing, then.

"But how're you doing this?" the Doctor asked the glowing central column.

"_By burning up a sun," _the voice replied. The Doctor's mind automatically flashed back to a different life, where he had stood on a beach and told a weeping girl the exact same thing. _"Lay the child down."_

"Why?" the Doctor asked cautiously, snapping out of his deep thoughts as he stepped slowly down the steps to lay Jenny by the console.

"_Because she is a part of you, and you a part of me. We are all connected by the universe itself," _the Tardis replied as though that was a sufficient answer.

As the Doctor stepped away, something began to happen. The light flowing from the console seemed to merge in one specific spot- right in the centre, the heart- before physically stepping out as a shining, featureless, humanoid shape.

The Doctor couldn't help but gasp in pure wonder at his magnificent machine as the body of light and glowing particles stepped slowly towards Jenny's motionless body on the floor. It stood over her for a few moments, sparks and wisps of light flowing from its main form like the sun, unspeaking, before it slowly appeared to climb right _into _Jenny's chest and was soon lost from sight. The console room immediately returned to its original colour and the temperature dropped a good few degrees.

"Jenny?" the Doctor croaked after a few shocked moments of not being able to speak at all, suddenly aware that her eyes were glowing with the same golden light from under her eyelids.

He got no response, however, and after another few seconds of silence Jenny's body suddenly exploded with the golden light- as though she were regenerating. The Doctor threw his arms over his face to block the brightly shining light from blinding him completely. When he was sure it was over, he lowered his arms slowly again.

Jenny was still very much the same person, but at the same time looked shiny and brand new. The Doctor held his breath as, slowly, her eyes fluttered open- which, up until that moment had still been glowing brightly- and inhaled deeply.

"W- where am I? And why does it feel as though I've been thrown through the vortex, _backwards…_?"

_**A/N: So there you go! This is the last official chapter, but there will be an epilogue coming (semi) shortly! :) **_


	13. Epilogue

_**A/N: So here it finally is! The very last chapter of this story, ever. I know, I'll just wait here for a moment to let you all mourn… Ok, moment over. Seriously though, I really hope you've enjoyed, and don't be afraid to review! They make me insanely happy :)**_

_**Epilogue**_

It had been roughly a week since Jenny's sacrifice, though, because they were yet to leave the Tardis, it was hard to be sure. Jenny was still yet to recover properly from her episode with the Tardis consciousness which, as the Doctor had later discovered after scanning Jenny, was now perfectly settled within her body. He couldn't fully work it out- the Tardis, and with it energy from the vortex itself, had integrated within Jenny's body and brought her back to life. Only, she wasn't alive. If the consciousness decided to leave her body then her hearts wouldn't be able to sustain themselves and so she'd go back to her natural state- dead. He wasn't sure if he was totally ok with his time machine acting as an artificial heart pump in order to keep his daughter animated, but Jenny seemed ok in herself so he pushed it to the back of his mind. The Tardis was a part of her now, and that was just how it would have to stay.

Jenny had spent most of the past week bedridden as she fought off the aches and nightmares being dragged back from the dead gave her. She also had to get used to a new found knowledge and insight that had been passed to her through the Tardis' transfusion. Of course, it was on nowhere near the grand scale of when Rose had looked into the heart of the Tardis, but the connection was strong enough between them for Jenny to get flashes of past and future events- many not even involving herself- rushing through her head and inhabiting her dreams. And anything could set her off. That was why, for the moment, the Doctor was happy to slouch around the console room to save her from any arduous amounts of exercise or adventures. He hoped the visions would cease soon, though, for his sake as much as her own. He was bored stiff.

"Dad?"

The Doctor looked up quickly and immediately spotted Jenny sat on the stairs leading up to her bedroom. She was still in the Tardis blue pyjama bottoms and white vest she had taken to wearing in bed, and looked pale and withdrawn. As he quickly crossed the space between them, he also noticed the goose bumps littering her skin and the silent shaking of her body, as well as red-rimmed eyes that told him she'd recently been crying.

"Nightmares again?" he asked softly, taking off his jacket to drape around her as he sat and pulled her to his chest in a loving embrace. He felt her shake her head against his chest.

"I wasn't asleep."

The Doctor sighed and clutched her tighter. It was harder to snap out of the visions when she was awake. At least when she woke, screaming, in her bed she knew it was just a dream. It was harder to decipher what were her actual memories and what she was being accidentally shown by the Tardis when she was awake.

"Past or future this time?"

"Past," Jenny replied croakily. "The Time War."

The Doctor froze for a moment as Jenny stopped talking- unable to go on due to the lump slowly rising in her throat.

"I'm so sorry for-"

"Eh- it's ok! What've you got to be sorry for?" the Doctor reassured, gently rubbing calming circles into her back with his palm as she began to sob into his chest.

"I just… I just, I need you to know-" Jenny struggled to control herself, "-I need you to know that I didn't mean what I said."

"What? What you said when?" The Doctor's brow creased with confusion.

"Before I went into the tunnel for the second time- before I got on the train- I told you that it was your fault that they're dead; your companions and all the others. I said you were selfish and a bad person. I need… need you to know that I didn't mean a word of it. I just… I had to make you let go. You were being the exact opposite of how I'd described you and I just had to break you down, but I didn't know how else to do it. But the Time War- you were so brave, you made such a hard decision and-"

"Jenny, please stop," the Doctor shushed as a fresh wail escaped Jenny's lips. "Listen- I know you didn't mean any of the things you said. Give me a little credit- I worked out what you'd pulled only a few seconds too late. I know you could never think of me in that way; you're too kind. You only ever see the good in people… That doesn't mean that it isn't true though, does it?" Jenny looked as though she were about to cut him off, but the Doctor held a hand up to silence her with a sad smile on his face. "I know better than anyone else what sort of man I am, and that kills me… but it'll never _stop _me. If anything, each mistake just makes me move faster- run further and harder than ever before. And, every once in a while, I'm reminded why the universe is worth trying to save, even if that does mean personal losses. You can't just stop because, if you do, your enemies have already won."

He continued to rock and sooth her on the stairs softly as, finally, her tears subsided and her breathing returned to normal. Even now he was still blown away by how his daughter saw the world. Instead of watching the devastating events of the Time War and seeing her father killing every last one of his kind, as well as thousands of others, Jenny looked upon those days and saw bravery on his part. How could somebody so old and worldly wise still contain such a childish innocence and naivety? She was simply incredible.

"Do you miss them?" she asked in no more than a horse whisper after a few moments of silence.

"Every day," he admitted after considering whether to answer her or not. After everything she'd been through, though, she deserved to have any and all her questions answered in the very least. "But that's ok."

Jenny nodded slowly into his chest again, before lifting her head and pulling away enough to see his face, though she was still contentedly encapsulated in his arms. "Do you think I'll ever be the same?"

The Doctor thought for a good few moments before giving his answer. "Do you really want to be?"

He watched Jenny contemplating her own answer before saying anything, just as he had done before her. They were so alike sometimes.

"Yes and no. No, because I honestly think this happened for a reason- all of it- and now it has I'm sure I'm supposed to use it for something important. And yes… well- yes because, sometimes, ignorance is bliss. I'd rather not know the details of my future, or anyone else's for that matter. Or even my past, now I come to think of it. All about living in the moment, me."

The Doctor couldn't help but smile. "And that's exactly why Sexy trusted you with this gift. She knows you'll never use it to change time. You don't even see it as a gift, do you? To you this is a curse." He chuckled to himself. "There should be more people like you in the universe- then there wouldn't be as many wars and I'd finally be able to retire."

"Retire?" Jenny almost choked, laughing herself now. "You'll never retire. I don't think you could cope living in a bungalow."

The Doctor shuddered at the mere thought, making Jenny laugh harder.

"You're right. Retirement just isn't cool."

"Agreed," Jenny replied as she finally stopped laughing and grew sadly serious again. They both sat in silence for a few moments, deep in thought, then: "I'm going to be alright though, aren't I?"

Jenny looked up at her father, fear obvious in her huge, brown orbs. Of course the Doctor couldn't be certain- only she knew that, and he knew she was unwilling to look into her future. Would she be alright? Hypothetically, so long as the Tardis functioned properly then Jenny would too. He had no idea if she could still get injured- could she regenerate even though the Tardis was, technically, the only thing keeping her alive? He didn't have a clue. She could keel over at any moment for all he knew- his Generated Anomaly. The name seemed to fit her even better in light of her new situation.

"Of course you are," he answered less than a beat after she'd asked, thoughts rushing through his head so fast it was hard to keep up. He realised he wasn't sure how, but he would make sure he found a way to keep her safe this time. "You don't need to see the future to know I will protect you until my dying day. And after that? Well… I'm sure you have the universe itself on your side now."

_**A/N: So there you go! I realise that both of my stories now have ended with the Doctor and Jenny having a chat about nightmares in the Tardis, but I imagine that nightmares are a big part of their lives and aren't really explored in the show that much, so there you go :) **_

_**This story might have ended, but I have a third in the works right now involving the Doctor and Jenny, so keep your eyes peeled! :D**_

_**R&R?**_


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